Goldsmiths Prize won by Harrison for 'literary masterpiece'

M John Harrison has won the £10,000 Goldsmiths Prize for The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again (Gollancz), a genre-blurring tale of broken life in Brexit Britain hailed by judges as a “literary masterpiece”.

The winner of the prize, awarded to the best in mould-breaking experimental fiction, was revealed at an online ceremony on 11th November.

Chair of judges Frances Wilson said: “M John Harrison has produced a literary masterpiece that will continue to be read in 100 years' time, if the planet survives that long.”  

Harrison lives in Shropshire and has been writing short fiction, long fiction, and literary criticism since 1966. Best known as a writer of modern fantasy and science fiction, he has also been described as someone to whom “the question of genre is an irrelevance”. He has previously won the Boardman Tasker Award for Climbers (Gollancz), the James Tiptree Jr Award with Light (Gollancz) and the Arthur C Clarke Award for Nova Swing (Gollancz). 

Introducing a reading earlier this month, Harrison described his winning book as “a story of lovers so self-involved, they not only fail to make a relationship but also fail to notice a mysterious political takeover going on around them. It’s a novel about conspiracy theory in which you can’t tell what’s theory and what’s real. It’s set in the UK now and it refers to the UK now. It isn’t science fiction or folk horror or psycho-geography, but it contains parodic elements of all three, and more.” 

Harrison triumphed from a shortlist also featuring Mr. Beethoven by Paul Griffiths (Henningham Family Press), A Lover’s Discourse by Xiaolu Guo (Chatto & Windus), Meanwhile in Dopamine City by D B C Pierre (Faber), The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey (Peepal Tree Press) and Bina by Anakana Schofield (Fleet).

Tom Gatti, deputy editor of prize sponsor the New Statesman, said: “In celebrating the work of border-crossing writers such as M John Harrison, the Goldsmiths continues to play a vital role in reinvigorating the novel form. The New Statesman is delighted to support the prize.” 

The author will be in conversation with Chris Power in an online event for Cambridge Literary Festival, in association with the New Statesman, on 21st November.

Read The Bookseller's interview with M John Harrison about The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again, his short story collection Settling the World (Comma Press), and his career in writing here.