Pakistan-British author Kamila Shamsie has been awarded 2017’s £10,000 London Hellenic Prize, given to the best book inspired by or relating to Greece, for Home Fire (Bloomsbury).
Shamsie claimed the award on Monday night (26th November) at a ceremony hosted by Professor Gonda Van Steen, herself a previous winner of the prize, in the Great Hall of Kings College London.
The novel, a contemporary reimagining of Sophocles’ Antigone, bagged the award after submissions from 102 authors and 33 publishers were received for consideration from all around the world.
Now in its 21st year, the London Hellenic Prize celebrates “the cultural cross-fertilization of the Greek and English-speaking worlds” and this year was judged by a six-strong panel chaired by Dr. Jennifer Wallace (Peterhouse, Cambridge).
Although the winner was announced on October 15, the official ceremony took place Tuesday night at King’s College London. Last year, Home Fire won the Women’s Prize for fiction.
As well as already scooping the Women’s Prize for Fiction last year, Kamila Shamsie’s book is currently in the running for the $25k DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.
Here wishing many congratulations to Kamila Shamsie on winning big. Keep shining!
