Caldwell wins Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction

In the UK, Lucy Caldwell has won the £25,000 (A$46,700) Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for her novel These Days (Faber), reports the Bookseller.

These Days is set during the 1941 aerial bombardment of Belfast. Caldwell’s novel was chosen from a shortlist that included Fiona McFarlane’s The Sun Walks Down (A&U), while the longlist also included Jock Serong’s novel The Settlement (Text).

The judges said that, ‘in Lucy Caldwell’s These Days we found a pitch-perfect, engrossing narrative ringing with emotional truth’. ‘A story of both great violence and great tenderness, These Days ends at 11 minutes past 11 o’clock, carrying all the freight that number holds. “Have you lived a life that is true?” Lucy Caldwell asks. For the 2023 Walter Scott Prize, it was a winning question.’

Now in its 14th year, the Walter Scott Prize honours the inventor of the historical fiction genre and is awarded to novels set 60 years or more in the past. Previous winners include Hilary Mantel and Sebastian Barry, who have both won the prize twice.

For more information, see the prize website.

Category: International news