AL Kennedy has her Day as top Scottish author takes major award

Published on Tuesday 22 January 2008 21:03

AL KENNEDY, the Scottish writer and stand-up comedian last night won the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Day.

AL – or Alison – Kennedy, 42, was the bookmakers' favourite to clinch the title.

However, the judges admitted there was passionate debate over whether Day or What was Lost, a debut work by Catherine O'Flynn, should be declared the winner.

O'Flynn, a one-time postwoman whose first novel was rejected by publishers 19 times, had emerged as a media darling. But, Joanna Trollope, writer and chairman of the Costa judges, said the decision finally went 5-3 in Kennedy's favour.

Ms Trollope said Day was perfectly and beautifully written and described Kennedy as an "extraordinary stylist".

She said the novel took a modern, synchronical approach to an airman psychologically fractured by war.

She added: "It's very witty, it's very lyrical, it's quite dark."

Last night, Catherine Lockerbie, director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, spoke of "joy, pleasure and overdue vindication" for the Dundee-born writer, journalist and part-time lecturer.

She said she was convinced Kennedy would win.

"I'm absolutely overjoyed that Alison Kennedy has now won one of the major UK prizes.

"This is overdue vindication for those of us who have been saying for years that she was one of the most outstanding writers of her generation. This is a very strong signal that people have finally realised how good she is."

Day, Ms Lockerbie said, was her most mature novel, confirming her to be a writer of "remarkable perception, insight and linguistic seduction."

Kennedy has written 11 books but recently branched out into stand-up comedy.

The Costa book prize, sponsored by the high street coffee shop chain, runs second only to the prestigious Booker in British literary circles.

Last year's winner was the hugely popular Tenderness of Wolves, by Edinburgh-born Stef Penney.

This year four female novelists dominated the shortlist of five category winners, with historian Simon Sebag Montefiore the only male, having won the biography prize with Young Stalin.

O'Flynn's debut is a compelling read about linked lives in a shopping centre.

Ann Kelley was named for the moving children's novel, The Bower Bird, and the least well-known of the five, Jean Sprackley, for her poetry collection Tilt.

Until recently, Scottish novelists have not done well in major UK literary awards. As the most prestigious, the Booker, celebrates its 40th year, only one Scottish writer, James Kelman, has won, in 1994. Kennedy was frequently seen as a candidate but overlooked by judges.

She is also known for her political activism and outspokenness on subjects from nuclear weapons to Britain's treatment of Muslims.

WINNING WORDS

THE COSTAS were known as the Whitbreads up until 2006.

The awards have five categories – first novel, novel, biography, poetry and children's book, each with a 5,000 prize.

An overall winner is chosen from the category winners and receives 25,000.

Recent winners include The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman, Beowulf by Seamus Heaney, biographies of Pepys and Matisse, by Claire Tomalin and Hilary Spurling respectively, and Stef Penney's first novel – The Tenderness of Wolves.