Lennon wins 2024 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize

In the UK, Ferdia Lennon has won the £5000 (A$9816) Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize for Glorious Exploits (Fig Tree), reports the Bookseller.

Chosen from a shortlist of six, the winning novel follows two locals and a group of captured Athenian soldiers as they stage one of Euripides’ tragedies in 412BC Sicily.

‘Lennon brings the ancient world to life in technicolour, from the horrors of war to the moments of hilarity to be found in the mundane, with a charmingly eccentric cast of characters,’ said Waterstones head of books Bea Carvalho. ‘It is a riotous, exuberant treat of a novel, which celebrates the redemptive power of art, and the catharsis to be found in storytelling.’

‘It had always struck me that ancient Greek comedy, such as that of Aristophanes, has something of the ribald, irreverent humour I grew up with in Dublin and that blending this with the universal themes of classical tragedy would be one way to evoke a living, breathing ancient world that felt contemporary and urgent,’ said Lennon. ‘A chance discovery of a line from Plutarch, where we learn that Athenian prisoners of war survived by quoting lines from Euripides’ plays to their Sicilian captors, showed me the path the novel would take and Glorious Exploits was born.’

The winner of last year’s award was Alice Winn for In Memoriam (Viking).

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