Novelist Eimear McBride has won the Goldsmith Prize for her novel “A Girl Is A Half-formed Thing,” nine years after it was rejected by major publishing house.
McBride was awarded the prize at a ceremony in Goldsmiths’ College, University of London. The author took away a cash prize of £10,000. She was born in Liverpool and raised in Ireland – McBride now lives in Norwich.
The novel was initially rejected by multiple publishing houses – McBride re-submitted it almost a decade later, unchanged, to Norwich-based Galley Beggar Press. It was published earlier this year.
Her novel tells the story of a young woman’s relationship with her brother who suffered a brain tumour.
“In writing the book I was consciously trying to do something new,” said McBride, as quoted in the Newstateman.
“I’m very interested in the modernist tradition. Finnegan’s Wake sort of signalled the end of literature, so I wanted to take a step back and try to find a new way forward.”
Images via Galley Begger
