Guardian First Book Award 2011 – fiction finalists

The Guardian First Book awards recognise the finest new writing talent who have had work published in English in the last year. The winning author will be given a £10,000 prize plus an advertising package in the Guardian and the Observer for an author’s first book published in 2011. Commenting on the longlist Lisa Allardice, awards chair and editor of the Review, Guardian, said:

“First novels are often accused of being overly autobiographical, but several of this year’s entries are audacious takes on topical subjects such as Amy Waldman’s The Submission, set in the aftermath of 9/11 in New York, or Stephen Kelman’s Pigeon English, about gang warfare in a South London estate.”

“For the first time we opened up the judging process, inviting readers to nominate a title for the final place on the longlist: Down the Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos takes us deep into the world of Mexican drug lord and is a lively addition to an extremely exciting longlist.”

The Book of Lies
by Mary Horlock