Diana Evans scoops South Bank Sky Arts literature prize

Diana Evans has won the South Bank Sky Arts Award for her book Ordinary People (Chatto & Windus).

Evans was announced as winner of the literature award during a ceremony hosted by Melvyn Bragg at the Savoy Hotel in London, last night (Sunday 7th .

She saw off competition from Kudos by Rachel Cusk (Faber) and The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman (rivverun).

Her win comes after the novel was shortlisted for both the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Rathbones Folio Prize.

Author Anna-Marie Crowhurst was beaten to the Times Breakthrough Award by singer Jessie Buckley.

Sky Arts director Phil Edgar-Jones said: “There’s never been a better time to be an artist in the UK – there’s so much that is truly gobsmackingly awful going on in the political world that the arts is a haven of sanity, empathy and incredible creativity – and this year’s South Bank Sky Arts Awards is testament to that with a wonderful diversity of talented winners.”