Tony Curtis has been shortlisted for The Society of Authors Paul Torday Memorial Prize with his debut novel Darkness in the City of Light.

The Paul Torday Memorial Prize is awarded annually to the best debut novel by an author over the age of 60. This year’s stellar shortlist includes five debut novels including Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and Murder at Evensong by Reverend Richard Coles. Judge Kathy O’Shaughnessy commented, “...the novels on this shortlist were wonderfully varied. It was a pleasure to see such excellent writing... Each book showed a true writer’s commitment to making the subject come alive, and compellingly pulled this reader forward.”

Darkness in the City of Light is one of two novels on the shortlist published by an independent publisher and the only published by a publisher in Wales. The full shortlist is:

• Tony Curtis for Darkness in the City of Light (Seren)
• Jonathan Franklin for Red Road Green (Sparsile Books Ltd)
• Bonnie Garmus for Lessons in Chemistry (Doubleday, Penguin Random House)
• Julie Owen Moylan for That Green Eyed Girl (Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House)
• Reverend Richard Coles for Murder Before Evensong (Weidenfeld & Nicholson)

The winner will be announced on the 29th June at Southwark Cathedral in a ceremony celebrating all of the Society of Authors Awards. The ceremony can be watched online for free, or you can purchase tickets to attend in person.

You can view the full shortlists for all of The Society of Authors Awards on their website.