Centre for New Writing鈥檚 Gareth Gavin named in Goldsmith Prize shortlist
Congratulations to University of Manchester Senior Lecturer Gareth Gavin who has been recognised in the shortlist for this year鈥檚 Goldsmiths prize.
Published in April 2023, Gareth鈥檚 Never Was: A Novel Without a World has made this year鈥檚 six-book shortlist from 107 entries.
Director for Creative 91直播鈥檚 Professor John McAuliffe wrote:
The Goldsmiths Prize always uncovers great books, and we're delighted that Gareth's brilliantly original and affecting novel has been recognised by the judges.
Never Was takes the reader from a limbo of lost dreams to a small salt-mining town in the North, exploring transness alongside class, addiction and grief, and examining the way identity is both inherited and re-invented.
Judge Ellen Peirson-Hagger, assistant culture editor at the New Statesman, the prize鈥檚 partner, said:
A feat of imagination [...], Never Was is a great trans novel, queering and querying expectations of character, type and truth itself.
The Prize, which celebrates 鈥渇iction that breaks the mould鈥�, carries a prize of 拢10,000.
The Goldsmith鈥檚 Prize winner will be announced on 8 November 2023.