P R E S S R E L E A S E

Strictly embargoed until 0800 hrs Monday 19th June 2017

SEBASTIAN BARRY BECOMES FIRST DOUBLE WINNER

OF £25,000 WALTER SCOTT PRIZE

Sebastian Barry has won the eighth £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for his epic American novel Days Without End. Barry’s previous novel On Canaan’s Side was a winner in 2012, and he returned to the Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Scotland this weekend to receive his Prize from the Duke of Buccleuch.

Sebastian Barry said on winning the Prize:

‘It’s difficult to itemise my simple childish joy at receiving this prize; that the judges did all this work to make a 61 year old man feel 12 again.“

The Prize Judges, who include Elizabeth Buccleuch,journalists James Naughtie and Kate Figes, writers Katharine Grant and Elizabeth Laird, the Abbotsford Trust’s James Holloway, and historian and Borders Book Festival director Alistair Moffat serving as chair, said:

‘Our decision to award Sebastian Barry’s Days Without End was one of the hardest the Walter Scott Prize has ever had to make.With all seven books on the shortlist having strong supporters on the judging panel who championed their cause in a protracted and passionate debate about the nature and purpose of historical fiction, the very books themselves seemed to fight tooth and nail for the accolade.

‘Eventually,Days Without End took the lead, forthegloriousandunusualstory;the seamlessly interwoven period research;andabove all forthe unfaltering power and authenticity of the narrative voice, a voice no reader is likely to forget.We commend all the authors of this year’s shortlist for their wonderful and important books.What a hard choice it was.But we are delighted to declare Days Without End the winner of the eighth Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction – and Sebastian Barry the first writer to win the Prize twice.'

The Walter Scott Prize is Sebastian Barry’s second book prize double this year - he also won the Costa Book Prize for Days Without End, which describes the relationship between two men during the bloody founding of modern America in the mid-19th century. The Walter Scott Prize specifically focuses on historical fiction, with the judges looking for originality, innovation and evocation of time and place. On being shortlisted earlier this year, Sebastian Barry said:

‘It seems to me that the prize itself has not only boosted and bolstered the historical novel,but also has begun to redefine it’.

Days Without Endwon out over stiff competition from six other novels, including Francis Spufford’s Golden Hill, Graham Swift’s Mothering Sunday and Rose Tremain’s The Gustav Sonata. Sebastian Barry joined his fellow shortlistees at the Borders Book Festival on Saturday 17th June to hear the final result, and came up on stage to receive his £25,000 cheque and a specially-commissioned glass trophy depicting the rolling landscape of Sir Walter Scott’s Border country, from the Prize sponsor the Duke of Buccleuch.

The Walter Scott Prize is awarded to the best UK, Irish or Commonwealth novel of the previous year, which is set more than sixty years ago. It was founded to honour the achievements of Sir Walter Scott, considered to be the inventor of the historical novel.

Previous winners include Hilary Mantel, Andrea Levy, Tan Twan Eng,Robert Harris, John Spurling and Simon Mawer.

Pictures of the prize ceremony and the winner are available from StonehillSalt PR or Writer Pictures at . Video of the winner, author images and book jackets are available from StonehillSalt PR.

For further information, please contact:

Rebecca Salt or Jessica Ward at StonehillSalt PR

Tel 01620 829 800 Mobile 07970 783 213 email

or

NOTES TO EDITORS

  • The winner, the chair of judges Alistair Moffat, and other judges are available for interview.
  • The Walter Scott Prize 2017 shortlist is:

Jo BakerA Country Road, A Tree (Doubleday)

Sebastian BarryDays Without End (Faber)

Charlotte HobsonThe Vanishing Futurist (Faber)

Hannah KentThe Good People (Picador Australia)

Francis SpuffordGolden Hill(Faber)

Graham SwiftMotheringSunday(Scribner)

Rose TremainThe Gustav Sonata (Chatto & Windus)

  • The Walter Scott Prize is made possible by the generosity of the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, who are distant kinsmen of Sir Walter Scott and patrons of the arts. The winner receives £25,000 and a glass trophy commissioned by local artists Lindean Glass, and there are runners-up prizes of £1000 for each shortlisted author.
  • The Walter Scott Prize definition of ‘historical’ is where the majority of events described in the book take place at least 60 years ago. This definition comes from Walter Scott’s subtitle for Waverley: ‘Tis Sixty Years Since’.

ENDS…/