Kathryn Scanlan wins £10k Gordon Burn Prize for Kick the Latch

Kathryn Scanlan has won the £10,000 Gordon Burn Prize for her "bravura investigation of authenticity and form", Kick the Latch (Daunt Books).

The winner was announced by chair of judges Terri White at an event at Northern Stage in Newcastle this evening, Thursday 7th March. Her book — based on transcribed interviews with horse trainer Sonia — has won Scanlan the chance to take up a writing retreat at Gordon Burn’s cottage in Berwickshire.

The prize recognises and celebrates fiction and non-fiction books that "push boundaries, cross genres and challenge readers’ expectations". The winner was selected by a judging panel chaired by White, which also included writers Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff, Andrew Hankinson and Sheena Patel.

Founded in 2012 by New Writing North, Faber & Faber and the Gordon Burn Trust, the Gordon Burn Prize has new sponsorship from Newcastle University and the Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts (NCLA) — with the prize fund for 2023–24 doubling to £10,000.

“It’s a thrill and an honor to receive this prize, which is unique in its recognition of work that plays with form, style and genre," Scanlan said. "I’m grateful to the judges and to Gordon Burn, to my publisher Daunt Books, and to Sonia, the book’s subject, narrator and inspiration.”

White added: “Kathryn Scanlan’s Kick the Latch is a thundering achievement, liberated from hard lines of genre and form by a laser focus on not just excavation but building of voice. From transcriptions of interviews with a real-life horse trainer, Scanlan carves this uncompromising book of restraint and authenticity. One that scuffs the line between the ‘she’ and the ‘I’. That drags us along, breathless, between the hooves."

Brinkhurst-Cuff commented: “Kick the Latch is a rare beast, setting out with a premise that feels neatly bordered but revealing itself almost immediately to be a desperately consumable piece of literature, pushing boundaries in terms of form and structure but never becoming inaccessible. Scanlan knows how to pierce your heart; I didn’t think I would ever fall in love with a horse trainer, but now I can proudly say that I have. This is a book that will make you appreciate the diversity of human experience and I’d urge even the most uncertain readers to take a ride.”