{"id":4323,"date":"2023-08-07T15:04:43","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T14:04:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/english-news\/?p=4323"},"modified":"2023-08-07T15:05:24","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T14:05:24","slug":"4323","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/english-news\/2023\/08\/07\/4323\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Creative Writing PhD student longlisted for Booker Prize"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are delighted to report that the debut novel by Margate-based Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow, a former PhD student of award-winning author and creative writing teacher Amy Sackville, has been longlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Viktoria\u2019s novel,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>All\u00a0<\/span>The Little Bird-Hearts<\/i><\/span>\u00a0(Tinder Press)<\/span><\/a>, was<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>described<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>by the Booker judges as a \u2018lyrical and poignant debut novel (that) offers a deft exploration of motherhood, vulnerability and the complexity of human relationships\u2019.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The idea for her novel originated from a writing class with Patricia Debney (who taught at Kent for 20 years) during her MA, which caused Viktoria to rethink her plans for her subsequent studies. She said: \u2018I was planning for a PhD in Italian Literature, but Patricia encouraged me to consider continuing with<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>creative writing<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>instead.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018<\/span>Amy Sackville<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>then became my supervisor for a PhD on The Contemporary Novel and I wrote\u00a0<\/span>All the Little Bird-Hearts<\/i><\/span>\u00a0as part of that doctoral work\u2019.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Viktoria completed her PhD in 2021 and Amy was so impressed with Viktoria\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>lyricism, wit and the originality of her voice<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>that she introduced her to her own agent at<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Lutyens & Rubinstein<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Amy said: \u2018<\/span>It was a genuine pleasure to work with Viktoria on her book; I always looked forward to our supervisions, and to discussing what she\u2019d been reading as well as her own writing.\u00a0 She\u2019s very funny and insightful, and all of that comes through in the novel, which is a compelling story of an autistic mother, her aspirational daughter, and the glamorous couple who move in next door. It\u2019s interested in class, community, female relationships, communication, and different ways of understanding and being in the world. I\u2019m tremendously proud of her and can\u2019t wait to see what she does next<\/span>.\u2019\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr Bashir Abu-Manneh<\/span><\/a>, Head of the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>School of English<\/span><\/a>, added: \u2018I am so pleased for Viktoria \u2013 but not surprised. Viktoria\u2019s focus on everyday detail, overcoming marginalisation and valuing distinctiveness is everything you want from contemporary writing. She stands in a long tradition of Kent writers who quietly but surely urge the world to listen to their unique voice \u2013 and change.\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The University\u2019 association with the Booker Prize includes a shortlisting for<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Emeritus Professor and Nobel Prize winner for literature<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>Abdulrazak Gurnah\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Paradise<\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and a longlisting for\u00a0New Imaginaries Fellow<\/a>\u00a0Kamila Shamsie\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Home Fire<\/i><\/span>. Professor Gurnah was also on the judging panel for the Man\u00a0Booker Prize\u00a0in 2016.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are delighted to report that the debut novel by Margate-based Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow, a former PhD student of award-winning author and creative writing teacher Amy … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80151,"featured_media":4324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/english-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4323"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/english-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/english-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/english-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/english-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4323"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/english-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4326,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/english-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4323\/revisions\/4326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/english-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/english-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/english-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/english-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}