Sarah Winman wins inaugural £10k InWords Literary Award

Sarah Winman has won the inaugural InWords Literary Award, for her "transcendent, utterly humane" novel Still Life (Fourth Estate).

The InWords Literary Award (TILA) is a new prize worth £10,000 for a novel published in English or a writer’s body of work. 

The announcement was made by Nicola Tuxworth, head of programming at the Times and the Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival, during the "Meet The Literary Editors" event on 16th October. 

Its creators and funders are life patrons of Cheltenham Festivals who wish to remain anonymous. In a statement, they said of the novel: "Still Life has brought joy and pleasure to so many readers in these strange and difficult times. The novel is an eloquent love letter to Florence, but more than that, it is a testimony to the value of kindness, the bonds of love and friendship among even unlikely combinations of people through vicissitudes great and small, and the timelessness and comfort of beauty and art. It is transcendent, utterly humane and beautifully written. Congratulations, Sarah, and please keep writing.”

Described as a "story of people brought together by love, war, art and the ghost of E M Forster", Still Life was a Sunday Times bestseller, BBC "Between the Covers" pick and a BBC Radio 4 "Book at Bedtime" selection.