Walsh wins UEA Little, Brown Award for Crime Fiction

Bridget Walsh has won this year’s £3,000 UEA Little, Brown Award for Crime Fiction with debut novel The Stanhope Venus.

Little, Brown works with the University of East Anglia Creative Writing Crime Fiction MA to provide the award to the best novel by a graduating student. Walsh also won a scholarship from David Higham Associates to undertake the course.

The award was judged by a panel of Sphere Fiction editors and awarded by publishing director Ed Wood at the launch of the MA Creative Writing Anthologies event at the London Review Bookshop.

He said: “The Stanhope Venus is a thoroughly entertaining Victorian crime fiction romp. It was by far the most confident, charismatic and atmospheric novel on the list, smartly basing its action around the denizens of a music hall and featuring an unforgettable heroine. By filling her story full of both light and dark, Bridget makes the novel a truly enjoyable reading experience.”

Walsh said: “I’m delighted and honoured to win the Little, Brown Award. The Stanhope Venus grew out of my interest in Victorian crime and popular culture, but it would have been a very different novel had I not studied the MA in Crime Fiction at UEA. My tutors and fellow students encouraged me to experiment, to be brave, and to find my own voice. I am immensely grateful for their support, and to Little, Brown for this very generous award.”

Bridget Walsh is represented by Isobel Dixon at Blake Friedmann.