Julia Parry Announced as 2022 Winner of the Christopher Bland Prize For THE SHADOWY THIRD

The Royal Society of Literature (RSL), the voice for the value of literature in the UK, has today announced Julia Parry as the winner of the 2022 RSL Christopher Bland Prize for The Shadowy Third: Love, Letters, and Elizabeth Bowen (Duckworth Books), which uncovers the hidden love triangle between novelist Elizabeth Bowen and the author's grandparents including never-before-seen letters detailing the affair. The prize is an annual award of £10,000 celebrating outstanding achievements for a debut novelist or non-fiction writer first published aged 50 or over.

Julia Parry said: 'I am amazed and delighted to be this year's recipient of the RSL Christopher Bland Prize. It is such a unique award; one that celebrates writing begun in the autumn of life. When I inherited the extraordinary correspondence between Elizabeth Bowen and my grandfather Humphry House, I knew it needed to find a wider audience. I felt that I had nothing to lose in writing that book myself. It is, as Sir Christopher Bland said, 'never too late' to start. My creative journey has been immensely rewarding, both intellectually and emotionally. To be given this recognition for what began as a labour of love is overwhelming. I want to thank the judges and the Royal Society of Literature for this huge honour.'

This year's judges are David Baddiel (Chair), Caroline Criado Perez and Naga Munchetty.

David Baddiel said: 'As a fan of Elizabeth Bowen, who is a much overlooked mid-20th Century British writer, my eye was drawn to The Shadowy Third by Julia Parry early on. It's a book about marriage, infidelity, men and women, the complexity of love, and letters. It's non-fiction, but is in its own way as thrilling and insightful on these subjects as one of Bowen's great novels.'

Caroline Criado Perez said: 'Never having read any Elizabeth Bowen, I didn't expect to particularly enjoy The Shadowy Third - but I absolutely loved it. Julia Parry has done an incredible job of pulling the letters she found in her uncle's attic into a compelling narrative, with vivid characters I really cared about. As soon as I finished, I went out and bought myself my first Bowen novel and I can't really think of any higher praise than that.'

Naga Munchetty said: 'I don't think I've ever read a book that made me want to go out to buy and read the poetry of another writer. This did. I did. And I'm very pleased I read it all. A labour of love well worth telling.'

Julia Parry was brought up in West Africa and educated at St Andrews and Oxford. She teaches English literature and has worked as a writer and photographer for a variety of publications and charitable organisations. She splits her time between London and Madrid. The Shadowy Third is her first book.

Previous winners of the RSL Christopher Bland Prize are Raynor Winn (2019 its inaugural year) for The Salt Path, Michele Kirsch (2020) with her memoir Clean and Peter Paphides last year for Broken Greek.

The RSL Christopher Bland Prize is one of nine annual awards and prizes presented by the RSL which bring the widest possible community of writers and readers together in celebration of the breadth of literature today. From debut works and unpublished short stories, through to the notoriously challenging second novel and outstanding contributions to literature, the RSL's awards and prizes celebrate the value of writing in all its forms, whilst supporting emerging and established writers at some of the most challenging moments of their careers. The RSL's other annual awards and prizes are: the Sky Arts RSL Writers Awards, the RSL International Writers awards, the RSL Ondaatje Prize, the Encore Award, the RSL Giles St Aubyn Awards for Non-Fiction, the RSL Literature Matters Awards, the V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize and the Benson Medal.