The Royal Society of Literature's RSL Christopher Bland Prize Shortlist Revealed

The Royal Society of Literature (RSL), the voice for the value of literature in the UK, has unveiled the shortlist for the 2023 RSL Christopher Bland Prize. 

Now in its fifth year, 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. This year’s judges are Lemn Sissay (Chair), Meena Kandasamy, and Simon Savidge.

The six shortlisted books are:

Susie Alegre, Freedom to Think (Atlantic Books)

Jo Browning Wroe, A Terrible Kindness (Faber & Faber)

Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry (Doubleday)

Paterson Joseph, The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho (Dialogue Books)

Jill Nalder, Love from the Pink Palace (Wildfire)

Devika Ponnambalam, I Am Not Your Eve (Bluemoose Books)

Lemn Sissay commented: ‘The RSL Christopher Bland Prize for debut authors over fifty means they are the bridge between  the digital age and the analogue world. This is evident in Susie Alegre's brilliant and timely Freedom to Think. It is a vital handbook of the history of human rights by a barrister, yet written in language which people like me can understand. It is vital because information and data are more remunerative than oil, and as we are the source of  data we should know how it is being extracted and why. It is also vital because war and peace are negotiated and navigated by data. And it is essential because abuse of  data is how human rights can be undermined. Susie Alegre's comprehensive overview of human rights, from the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi to the present day, shows us all how vulnerable we are to abuses and how we as a society need to understand the world through the focussing lens of human rights.’  

Simon Savidge commented: ‘With A Terrible Kindness, Jo Browning Wroe creates a fascinating character study of how we become the people we are, not just by the big moments of history we encounter, but also the smaller moments in our personal histories that change us forever. With the assurance of a writer who could be on their fifth or sixth book, she exposes the foibles of human nature, death and grief, how our childhoods can haunt us and how we should live for those who leave us behind. All this set in the shadow of the Aberfan disaster, which she deals with poignantly and without ever a moment of voyeurism, all the while shining a light on a period in history where many people couldn’t be who they wanted to be or really were.’

Meena Kandasamy commented: ‘I loved Lessons in Chemistry. It was such a refreshing read, written with joviality and verve. I also related a lot to this book because it was about a woman in STEM, and as the daughter of a mathematician, this resonated a great deal. It is a book which employs incisive humour to great effect, and also has a lightness of touch which will make it widely read.’

  

Lemn Sissay commented:‘The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho is historical fiction, bursting with the wit and perspicacity of its protagonist Ignatius Sancho. Paterson Joseph, an actor by trade, is clearly a writer in an actor's body. Many thespians feel the urge to inhabit the world of a writer, but few can fulfil it to the degree of Paterson Joseph. He inhabits characters and scenes as Dickens does, through the character and story. The Secret Diaries… leaves the reader frowning at the audacity of history for leaving out such a brilliant character. Equally we are slightly in awe of the author for turning history around.’ 

Simon Savidge commented: ‘Jill Nalder’s Love from the Pink Palace is one of the most heart brimming and heartbreaking books that I have read in some time. Jill takes us right into the heart of the AIDS epidemic in London in the 1980’s. Starting in a world filled with the joys of cabaret and camp and leading into the tragedy that followed, Jill gives us a frank, open, compassionate insight into a devastating period of recent history. At a time when allyship could not be more important once again, this is a book that everyone needs to be reading.’

Meena Kandasamy commented: ‘Devika Ponnambalam’s novel I am Not Your Eve is a thing of beauty. I have read it twice, and I find the writing very lyrical and political. Ponnambalam sublimely deconstructs patriarchy and colonialism, even as she stays within the contours of the story she is telling: the story of Paul Gauguin’s Tahitian child-bride and muse Teha’amana.’

The shortlisted authors commented:

Susie Alegre: ‘I have been writing for as long as I can remember but finally published Freedom to Think at the age of 50. Being shortlisted for the RSL Christopher Bland Prize feels like a real validation that all the years and words that went before were not wasted.’

Joe Browning Wroe: ‘Hearing I had been shortlisted for the RSL Christopher Bland Prize was a genuine thrill – something I wish I could have whispered in my younger self’s ear. Like many writers, I spent years plugging away with no guarantee of publication or success. Being on this shortlist is a fabulous affirmation for which I’m very grateful.’

Bonnie Garmus: ‘What an honour it is to be shortlisted for the RSL Christopher Bland Prize. While publishing tends to favour the young, this award is proof that when it comes to storytelling, age doesn't matter. I'm so glad to be part of a movement that seeks to recognize writers as people instead of numbers. It's never too late to do anything! This prize is proof.’ 

Paterson Joseph: ‘Being shortlisted for the RSL Christopher Bland Prize is a wonderful pat on the back for any writer. I’m certain that receiving a nomination from a society of, and for, writers is the highest accolade for any fledgling novelist.’

Jill Nalder: ‘I am truly amazed and honoured to be selected for this brilliant Prize. I never imagined anything so fantastic. It really shows that anything can happen at any time in life,  even when you least expect it. It is so special to me that through a book, those I wrote about, whose lives were so short, live on and in a way are reborn for a new generation.’

Devika Ponnambalam: ‘I am thrilled to be shortlisted for the RSL Christopher Bland Prize for my debut novel I Am Not Your Eve. I began writing the story of Teha'amana, Tahitian muse and child-wife to the painter Paul Gauguin, in 2003. It has been a long and difficult journey, but the desire to tell her version of the truth kept the fire burning these many years. I hope her-story now reaches a wider audience and touches hearts, just as the image of her first did mine, in that famous painting of Gauguin's “The Spirit Of The Dead Keeps Watch.”’

Raynor Winn won the Prize in its inaugural year for The Salt Path. The 2020 winner was Michele Kirsch with her memoir Clean. The winner in 2021 was Pete Paphides for Broken Greek and Julia Parry was last year’s winner for The Shadowy Third: Love, Letters, and Elizabeth Bowen.

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.

The 2023 RSL Christopher Bland Prize winner will be announced on Thursday 8 June.