Bibliofemme News
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07/02/2006
Zadie Smith's On Beauty takes Commonwealth prize
British writer Zadie Smith's Booker Prize shortlisted novel On Beauty has
been named winner for the Eurasia region of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize.
Smith's novel, a reworking of E M Forster's Howards End set in a New England
college town, won group open to writers from Europe and South Asia.
On Beauty will now compete against three other regional winners for the
international award for outstanding fiction.
The winner will be announced in Melbourne on 14 March.
The annual Commonwealth Writers' Prize was established in 1987 and is open
to writers from the 53-nation Commonwealth of Britain and its former
colonies.
A prize of £10,000 will be awarded to the author of the overall best book,
picked from the four regional finalists - Africa; the Caribbean and Canada;
Eurasia; South East Asia and the South Pacific.
Benjamin Kwakye of Ghana won the Africa group for The Sun By Night, while
Canada's Lisa Moore won the Canada and Caribbean category for Alligator. The
South East Asia and South Pacific winner was Australia's Kate Grenville for
The Secret River.
There is also an award of £3,000 for the Best First Book, again chosen from
four regional finalists - Uganda's Doreen Baingana for Tropical Fish: Tales
from Entebbe; Guyana's Mark McWatt for Suspended Sentences; Britain's Donna
Daley-Clarke for Lazy Eye; and Malaysia's Tash Aw for The Harmony Silk
Factory.
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