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Francesca Rhydderch wins Fiction Prize at Wales Book of the Year

Francesca Rhydderch’s debut novel The Rice Paper Diaries, has been awarded the prestigious Wales Book of the Year English Language Fiction Prize.
Owen Sheers scooped the overall prize of Wales Book of the Year as well as the Roland Mathais prize for poetry for his collection Pink Mist.
The awards are presented annually to the best Welsh and English language works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. This year’s winners were announced at ceremony at Galei Arts Centre in Caernarfon, with each category winner awarded £2000, along with a stainless steel trophy to celebrate their success. Designed by Angharad Pearce Jones, the trophy took the form of an open book.
Rhydderch’s novel dramatically brings to life the events of wartime Hong Kong. Literature Wales Chief Executive Lleucu Siencyn highlighted the international theme that had run through the judging panel’s favoured works, saying “The 2014 winners have guided readers to near and distant lands” and offered her congratulations.
Nadia Kamil, speaking on behalf of the English Language judging panel said, “We were looking for books that excited us and ones that made us want to continue reading. Francesca Rhydderch impressed us with emotional depth which carries the reader deep into the interior of the main characters.”
All of us at Seren extend our congratulations to Francesca for her well-earned success.

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Nine reasons to vote for The Rice Paper Diaries for the Wales Book of the Year People’s Choice Award.

Francesca Rhydderch has been shortlisted for The Wales Book of The Year Award for her debut novel The Rice Paper Diaries.

Nine of the shortlisted English language titles will also compete for the People’s Choice Award, where you get to have your say and vote for your favourite.

Francesca faces stiff competition from the likes of Tessa Hadley and Owen Sheers for the honour and here’s nine reasons why we think The Rice Paper Diaries deserves your vote:

  1. It shows us a different side to the Second World War. We normally think of WW2 as affecting our troops and those at home in Britain. The Rice Paper Diaries gives us an insight into what it was like to be a British expatriate interned by the enemy far from home and the difficult process of repatriation after the war.
  1. The story is authentic. Brian Edgar a WW2 blogger, whose parents were interned at the same concentration camp as Francesca’s protagonists, described it as “A magnificent book that anyone who enjoys first-rate literary fiction should consider reading”.
  1. Its four stories for the price of one. We hear four sides of the story from the perspectives of Elsa, Tommy, their daughter Mari and their Chinese amah Lin.
  1. It was Seren’s best selling novel of 2013. Its first print run was a sell out! (Don’t worry you can still get your hands on a copy here).
  1. It was a Kindle best seller, reaching the number 4 spot in the Kindle top 100.
  1. It drew critical acclaim from reviewers. Adrian Masters couldn’t recommend it highly enough and Laura Wainwright described it as a “rare, brave and unforgettable novel”.
  1. Even the competition thinks it’s great! Tessa Hadley (also shortlisted for Clever Girl) endorsed the book as “ Very fine, so truthful-feeling and subtle”.
  1. It’s been shortlisted for The Wales Book of the Year Award and Longlisted for the Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize and The Author’s Club First Novel Awards.
  1. It’s international. Fran was invited to take part in the Beijing Book Fair and it’s currently being translated in to Mandarin!

What are you waiting for? Vote now!