Myers and Funder among 12-strong longlist for £10k Gordon Burn Prize

Benjamin Myers ’ Cuddy (Bloomsbury Circus), Anna Funder’s Wifedom (Viking) and Jonathan Escoffery’s If I Survive You (4th Estate) are among the 12-strong longlist for the  £10,000 Gordon Burn Prize 2023-2024.

Founded in 2012 by New Writing North, Faber & Faber and the Gordon Burn Trust, the award recognises fiction and non-fiction books judged to be "fearless in their ambition and execution". It will be awarded in March 2024 in Gordon Burn’s home city, Newcastle upon Tyne, with support from Newcastle University and NCLA, the Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts.

The prize remembers the journalist and author Gordon Burn who died in 2009, seeking to celebrate those who follow in his footsteps.

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adeji-Brenyah (Harvill Secker) is also on this year’s longlist, alongside Killing Thatcher by Rory Carroll (Mudlark) and Bellies by Nicola Dinan (Doubleday). Harriet Gibsone’s Is This OK? is also on the list (Picador), as are Emma Forrest ’s Busy Being Free  (Weidenfeld & Nicholson) and John Niven’s O Brother (Canongate Books). The final three books on the shortlist are Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan (Jonathan Cape), Kick The Latch by Kathryn Scanlan (Daunt Originals) and Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq (And Other Stories).

The longlist was selected by a judging panel chaired by Terri White, who was joined by Charlie Brinkhurst, Andrew Hankinson and Sheena Patel. The judges will also select the shortlist, which will be announced in January 2024, and the winner, which will be announced on 7th March 2024.

The winning writer will receive the cash prize and the chance to undertake a writing retreat at Gordon Burn’s cottage in Berwickshire.

White said: “Our longlist of 12 takes in fiction, memoir, true crime, investigative journalism, folklore, poetry and work that frankly doesn’t care about our definitions (and limitations) of genre. Books that explore intergenerational trauma, the contemporary thirst for true crime, re-imagining of histories, our relationship with celebrity culture, the impact of coming of age online, and the radical nature of an ordinary life. That all, in some way, speak to living in 2023, and vitally, keep the spirit of Gordon Burn alive and well."

Last year, Preti Taneja won the prize for Aftermath (And Other Stories).