The six shortlisted titles celebrating LGBT writing have been announced after hours of debates between the judges over an exceptionally strong longlist. Once again with a list including fiction; from debut novelists to well established literary faces, non-fiction; from investigations into the modern drugs world to a memoir of a mother’s illness, from Victorian London to Jamaica, the Green Carnation proves itself as one of the most diverse prizes.
- Sophie and the Sibyl – Patricia Duncker (Bloomsbury)
- A Place Called Winter – Patrick Gale (Tinder Press)
- Chasing the Scream – Johann Hari (Bloomsbury Circus)
- A Brief History of Seven Killings – Marlon James (OneWorld)
- Mrs Engels – Gavin McCrea (Scribe)
- Stammered Songbook – Erwin Mortier (Pushkin Press)
Chair of the judges for 2015, author Niven Govinden said of the shortlist “After a lively and robust debate, we're proud to unveil our shortlist, which we feel represents the best of the best: books that excel and incite passion in the reader.”
Simon Heafield, Marketing Manager for the prize’s partner Foyles said "We're very proud to play a part in promoting a shortlist of such quality. Indeed, most are books we've been actively promoting instore this year so we're delighted that readers will again be given good reason to investigate them further.”
The Green Carnation Prize is a prize awarded to LGBT writers for any form of the written word, in any genre, including novels in translation. This year sees the second year of the prize’s partnership with Foyles bookshops. The partnership will see Foyles offer event space in their flagship store to host the award ceremony on Tuesday December the 8th 2015, with public events celebrating the prize to follow around the UK in 2016.