Arnott’s ‘Flames’ shortlisted for Not the Booker

Hobart-based author Robbie Arnott has been shortlisted for the Guardian’s 2019 Not the Booker prize. Arnott’s debut, Flames (Text), was one of six shortlisted titles chosen from a longlist of 174 books.

The shortlisted titles are:

• Flames (Robbie Arnott, Text)
• Skin (Liam Brown, Legend)
• The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas (Daniel James, Dead Ink)
• Please Read This Leaflet Carefully (Karen Havelin, Dead Ink)
• Spring (Ali Smith, Hamish Hamilton)
• Supper Club (Lara Williams, Hamish Hamilton).

Three titles on the shortlist where voted for by the public, one book (Ali Smith’s Spring) was chosen by last year’s prize judges, and the Guardian’s two nominated ‘book champions’ chose one title each: Storyhouse library in Chester chose Flames, while Edinburgh bookshop Golden Hare Books chose Lara Williams’ Supper Club.

Caroline Dunseath, a librarian at Storyhouse, said of Flames: ‘Arnott is unafraid to experiment with different narrative forms … the way these seemingly disparate characters interact with each other is deftly done and the ending had me in tears. This book has been nominated for Australian literary prizes but definitely deserves a wider readership in other countries.’

The winner of the award, which has the same criteria as the Booker Prize, will receive a Guardian coffee mug.

Category: Awards Local news