And the Oscar goes to … oops, sorry, wrong golden moment. Just as the stars were celebrating winning an illustrious bald statue, 15 authors were having their own, quieter, moment of pleasure having been named on the longlist for the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction. Sir Walter Scott, the Scottish novelist and poet, is considered by many a founding father of the historical novel with Ivanhoe, one of the collection known as the Waverley Novels, amongst his most famous books.
In coming up with the award longlist, which increased from 12 last year, the judges did a considerable amount of time travelling from 11th Century England (The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth) to 17th Century Amsterdam (The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton) to 20th Century Europe (The Zone by Martin Amis) and occasionally, even further afield. The shortlist will be announced next month with the final winner being revealed at the Borders Book Festival in June. Previous winners are: Hilary Mantel (Wolf Hall), Andrea Levy (The Long Story), Sebastian Barry (On Canaan’s Side), Tan Twan Eng (The Garden of Evening Mists) and Robert Harris (An Officer and a Spy).
The full long list is:
- The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis
- The Temporary Gentleman by Sebastian Barry
- The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
- The Lie by Helen Dunmore
- Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre
- In the Wolf’s Mouth by Adam Foulds
- Mr Mac and Me by Esther Freud
- Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut
- Wake by Anna Hope
- The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth
- The Undertaking by Audrey Magee
- A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie
- The Architect’s Apprentice by Elif Shafak
- The Ten Thousand Things by John Spurling
- The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
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