Cork writer a finalist for £20k Dylan Thomas literary prize

CORK writer Sara Baume has been shortlisted for a prestigious literary prize.

Ms Baume, who is based in Skibbereen, is one of six finalists for the Dylan Thomas prize worth £20,000.

The Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize is one of the UK’s most prestigious literary prizes, as well as the world’s largest literary prize for young writers.

The shortlist — featuring four debuts and four female writers, as well as three titles from independent publishing houses — comprises three novels, two short story collections, and one poetry collection.

Sara Baume was the winner of the Davy Byrnes Short Story Award, the Hennessy New Irish Writing Award, and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. She was nominated for her poetic third novel Seven Steeples, which depicts a couple escaping into the wilds of South-West Ireland.

The novel describes Bell and Sigh, a couple in the infancy of their relationship, who cut themselves off from friends and family.

Author Jon Gower described Sara’s book Seven Steeples as “memorable”.

“This beautifully quiet and quietly beautiful novel maps out two lovers’ lives with custodial care and in delicate, precision prose. 

"In Bell and Sigh, Sara Baume has created a marvellously shambolic and memorable pair of characters, setting them in a creaking house in a wind-blown Irish landscape, where they walk their dogs and grow ever closer. Tender and true, this is a book that lingers like the coconut scent of gorse in full flower.”

Chair of the judges, and books editor at BBC Audio, Di Speirs, said there was an eclectic mix of talent evident in the shortlisted writer’s work.

“There’s brilliance and beauty in the six books shortlisted for this year’s Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize. 

"All six — while hugely different in style, subject and genre, and ranging from rural Tasmania and the wild Irish coast to the sharply contemporary in Nigeria and the UK — exemplify not only the talent and excitingly fresh, often startling, writing we were seeking, but draw the reader in and on,” Ms Speirs said.

“There’s wit and wisdom, pleasure and pain, acute observation of the natural world and of human relationships and above all, so much to savour. That we all agreed so clearly on our shortlist is testament to the strength of this potent mix of poetry, short stories and novels and to the power of the six writers.”

The Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize winner will be announced at a Winner’s Ceremony held in Swansea on Thursday, May 11, prior to International Dylan Thomas Day on Sunday, May 14.