The winner of the HWA Debut Crown Award 2015 will be announced at the Harrogate History Festival on 22 October. The award, now in it’s fourth year, celebrates the best emerging voices in historical fiction. Readers can win all six titles in our amazing giveaway over on the HWA website.
Five of the shortlisted authors will be appearing at Harrogate History Festival to discuss their work. In the meantime, we asked them a few questions…
Antonia Hodgson, author of The Devil in the Marshalsea
The prize celebrates the best new voices in historical fiction. Why did you choose to write in this genre?
I was seduced by 1720s London. It’s such a dangerous, subversive, exciting period – and at the same time it’s been neglected and misrepresented in the past. I loved the idea of introducing readers to a world that was both familiar and strange. For me, that’s one of the great pleasures of historical fiction, both as a writer and as a reader. We’re reminded of how much we’ve changed, and how much we have stayed the same.
What does making the Debut Crown shortlist mean to you?
It means a great deal! It’s a fantastic shortlist and I’m thrilled to be a part of it. I’m looking forward to celebrating with the other five shortlisted writers at the Harrogate History Festival.
Who is your tip to win?
Oh, I leave gambling to my protagonist, Thomas Hawkins. And he probably wouldn’t bet on me, the swine.
Toby Clements, author of Kingmaker, Winter Pilgrims
The prize celebrates the best new voices in historical fiction. Why did you choose to write in this genre?
My interest in history started before I could read, when I found my brother’s Ladybird book of Warwick the Kingmaker knocking around at home, and the pictures amazed me: the Earl of Warwick in full harness, in the mist, just about to get his comeuppance at Barnet! Margaret of Anjou, in a pointed hat, going batshit in a castle tower after some terrible setback! it was all too brilliant. Then I had a couple of enthusiastic and encouraging teachers who taught both History and English, and because they were encouraging, I enjoyed both, and I suppose I’ve never managed to separate the two, and so it seemed natural that, wanting to write, I’d want to write about history. Oddly, one of the teachers also taught science – it was that kind of school – but I’ve not been drawn to scifi, so maybe there’s nothing in that.
What does making the Debut Crown shortlist mean to you?
I was pretty damned pleased to make the shortlist, obviously, because I know there are some very promising names on it, and some very promising names who did not make it, but it is only the collected opinion of a few – all be they well qualified to judge – and so, in a way, I hope my treasured memories of writing and having my first novel published are not – or perhaps that is should not be – influenced too much by what other people think of it. If that makes sense? It sounds a bit ‘twin impostery’ I know, and/but I hope I will still feel that way after the announcement.
Who is your tip to win?
I have not read all the books yet, But I will never forget Ben Fergusson’s The Spring of Kasper Meier, which is original and powerful, and though an investigation of sorts, shows no sign of any underpinning formula. He is writing to life, rather than trying to impersonate other books, and so the experience of reading it is sometimes odd, and uncomfortable, but it is brilliant because of that.
Ben Fergusson, author of The Spring of Kasper Meier
The prize celebrates the best new voices in historical fiction. Why did you choose to write in this genre?
A number of reasons. Just like a reader of historical fiction, it’s simply fascinating to immerse yourself in a period you’re interested in. Also writing about the past gives me a certain distance that I like; I find it easier to pick out the interesting details of a story in the past than filtering the overabundance of information in contemporary life.
What does making the Debut Crown shortlist mean to you?
It’s a cliché, but it’s so wonderful to be shortlisted against a list of such great novels. It’s lovely to be thought about in the context of those great books.
Who is your tip to win?
Well, obviously I’d love to win, so I’m not going to jinx it by sending my good vibes to someone else!
Anna Hope, author of Wake
The prize celebrates the best new voices in historical fiction. Why did you choose to write in this genre?
I often wished I’d studied history at University, and writing historical novels gives me an opportunity to really dive into research. I’m a geek! Having said that, it wasn’t a conscious choice – I was simply so compelled by the period, and by women’s experience of the war, that I felt I had to write Wake. It’s been the same for my present novel, and for the next one I’m planning. As for the future, who knows, perhaps I’ll write something contemporary.
What does making the Debut Crown shortlist mean to you?
It’s a real honour to be chosen, particularly with such a strong shortlist. I’m thrilled.
Who is your tip to win?
Ooh…I’m not sure. I think any one of the books might take it. Very much looking forward to finding out!
M J Carter, author of The Strangler Vine
The prize celebrates the best new voices in historical fiction. Why did you choose to write in this genre?
History was always my thing, right from when I started to read. The past fascinated me in a very romantic way, I wanted to be a Roman Briton or live in the Middle Ages (I hadn’t at that stage realised that I’d be doing without chocolate, flush loos, antibiotics etc) and any period I came across that I didn’\t know about, I just wanted to find out about. I read and reread Rosemary Sutcliff and then ate up Jean Plaidy. That pure obsession with historical facts and periods has persisted. My first two books were historical non-fiction, I spent years luxuriating in the research, but after taking 15 years to write two books and feeling somewhat crushed by the need to fact-check every sentence, I felt I was up for a change, but I didn’t want to leave history which is always my background. I’d had a story —the subjugation of the India Thugs in the the 1830s by the British, and whether they were in fact a Britishj invention, and character I’d been thinking about for years, and I wanted to write a novel about it. I hoped the experience would be—and indeed have found it was—incredibly satisfying and freeing; using the historical background that I love to conjure a period and place, and to take the story where I wanted, and the learning curve has been immensely satisfying too.
What does making the Debut Crown shortlist mean to you?
When I was writing it, I couldn’t quite believe that the words I was so plonkily and often awkwardly putting down would actually metamorphosise into a story people might become caught up in and characters they might believe in. It’s quite different from non-fiction where you have a real event to start from. And so it’s incredibly gratifying to feel my book has been noticed, and that the judges must have liked it—specially in the world of historical fiction which feels incredibly crowded and hard to make headway in.
Who is your tip to win?
I have to admit I haven’t read all the other books, though it’s clearly a really tough shortlist, so I’m not holding my breath but I my tip would be Antonia Hodgson, whom I both really like and am horribly envious of for her terrific The Devil in the Marshalsea. I remember starting it and thinking, oh god, I’m not sure I can read this, it’s not a hundred miles from what I’m trying to do and it’s really good. Anyway I persevered and it is very good.
For press queries or more information about the HWA Debut Crown Award please contact:
Kate White – press officer
kate@frontpagemediauk.co.uk
tel: 07814791775
