| BRANFORD BOASE 2009 WINNER ANNOUNCED 10th July 2009 |
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The Branford Boase Award was set up to recognise new writers as well as excellence in publishing. The Chair of judges, Julia Eccleshare commented: "B. R. Collins and Emma Matthewson are excellent winners to add to this tradition in this tenth anniversary year." The award this year was drawn from a shortlist of seven books B.R. Collins is based in Kent, and is no stranger to awards as she has previously won the Young National Poetry competition two years running. As well as writing two plays, Bridget has also trained as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and has recently finished filming on a small independent film. The Traitor Game was Bridget’s debut novel and her second, A Trick of the Dark, will be published in September 2009. The Traitor Game has been described as a powerful debut that explores the way boys create friendships and how fragile these relationships can be. Exploring teen issues, particularly the fear, frustration and weakness that is a part of bullying and peer pressure, The Traitor Game spans between two worlds, the real one and the fantasy of Evgard. While the worlds themselves are very different, the actions and emotions are reflected between the two. The consequences, however, are very different. The judges, chaired by Julia Eccleshare, were Jenny Downham, author of last year’s winner Before I Die; Jane Churchill of the Cheltenham Literary Festival; librarian John Dunne; Caroline Horn of Readingzone and the Bookseller, and John Packard of Borders. The seven books nominated for the award were: The Traitor Game by B R Collins (edited by Emma Matthewson at Bloomsbury) |
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