The Dundee International Book Prize has established itself as the UK’s premier prize for emerging novelists. The £10,000 cash award together with publication, make The Dundee International Book Prize highly valued by tomorrow’s great new writers seeking to break into the publishing world. The award, now running for the eighth time, is for an unpublished novel on any theme and in any genre. Dundee is a city which embraces writers – A.L. Kennedy was born and bred in the city and Douglas Dunn, Kate Atkinson, John Burnside, Bill Duncan and Rosamunde Pilcher are amongst the “glitterati” who have drawn on the City of Discovery for their inspiration over the last two decades.

The winning books have showcased a diverse range of writing talent in a variety of genres. Andrew Murray Scott’s book Tumulus (the winner in 2000) detailed bohemian Dundee through the 60s and 70s to the present day. Claire-Marie Watson’s The Curewife (2002) drew on the tale of Dundee’s last execution of a witch – Grissel Jaffray in 1669. Malcolm Archibald’s Whales for a Wizard (2005) was an adventure story based around the whaling industry in Dundee in the 1860’s. Fiona Dunscombe’s The Triple Point of Water (2007) drew on her experiences of working in Soho during the 1980’s. Chris Longmuir’s Dead Wood (2009) was a grizzly crime novel set in a world of violence and gangland retribution. Alan Wright’s Act of Murder (2010) was a tale of magic, poisonings and thespians, with some gruesome murders thrown in for good measure. Simon Ashe-Browne’s Nothing Human Left (2011) was a psychological thriller set in a Dublin public school as a schoolboy’s criminal desires reach a frightening conclusion.

Make your voice heard, with the Dundee International Book Prize

The Dundee International Book Prize is a joint venture between Dundee – One City, Many Discoveries and the University of Dundee.