The New Angle Prize for Literature is a biennial award organised by the Ipswich Institute and sponsored by Scrutton Bland and Gotelee Solicitors. The award recognises authors whose writing has been published in the last two years, and whilst there are no categories, entries must be a book of literary merit set in or influenced by the region of East Anglia. T his year’s awards saw a strong shortlist from a range of publishers ranging from small independents to large international publishers. At an awards dinner in June, the winner was announced as Devoured by Anna Mackmin, with the Readers’ Choice award going to All Among the Barley by Melissa Harrison. The runner-up, receiving a cheque for £500, was poet Esther Morgan for her collection The Wound Register , from poetry publisher Bloodaxe Books. Inspired by the Norfolk Regiment’s First World War Casualty Book, Esther Morgan’s East Anglian family history and her present life as a mother are woven into her poems. Scrutton Bland’s Corporate Services Partner Sharon Gravener is a keen reader and supporter of the award. “Reading a good book helps your critical faculties and strengthens the ability to focus and concentrate – not to mention the way it can help you unwind at the end of a stressful day! Scrutton Bland has been a sponsor of the NEW ANGLE PRIZE FOR LITERATURE THE 2019 WINNER IS ANNOUNCED
New Angle Prize for a number of years, and we are very pleased to once more be a part of the award which does such a good job in highlighting the strength of literary talent in our region.” The New Angle Prize is organised by the Ipswich Institute: an independent library and reading room, and the only surviving Birkbeck Foundation outside London. As well as the literary prize they run a number of courses, lectures and events, and offer “not only an intriguing part of the town’s history but also a refreshing antidote to today’s busy and materialistic world”. Find out more about them at www.ipswichinstitute.org.uk tel 01473 253992. Scrutton Bland work with a number of charities and not-for-profit organisations across our region to provide insurance, audit, accounting and other financial advice. To talk to one of our advisers please call 0330 058 6559 or email hello@scruttonbland.co.uk
Devoured is a stunning debut novel by theatre director Anna Mackmin, which, in the words of the judges, describes “an intriguing world where hippies, communes and childhood collide in a riotous story – managing dark themes with humour, tenderness and grace”. It was
Melissa Harrison’s All Among the Barley , published by Bloomsbury, won a special Readers’ Choice competition sponsored by Friends of Ipswich County Library. The other shortlisted books were The Great
published last year by the small Norwich-based independent publisher Propolis, which was also responsible for the 2013 multi-award-winning novel A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride. Anna Mackmin received a prize of £2000.
Level by Stella Tillyard (Chatto & Windus), Low Country: Brexit on the Essex Coast, by Tom Bolton (Penned in the Margins) and Self & I by Matthew De Abaitua (Eye Books). Both Devoured and All Among the Barley have since gone on to be listed in The Times 100 Best Books for the Summer, with the latter also winning the 2019 EU Prize for Literature.
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