Two Department of Writing grads have made the prestigious Waterstones Eleven list of debut literary stars of 2013. Both Marjorie Celona and D.W. Wilson found themselves not only on the list along with a baker’s dozen of other international authors, but also in the same location when the announcement was made at Waterstones Piccadilly in London, England, on January 14.
Marjorie Celona (standing, centre) and D.W. Wilson (right, in hat)
Now in its third year, the 2013 Waterstones Eleven list featured writers from six different countries. “The Waterstones Eleven puts new writing at the forefront of the literary calendar and has quickly become a celebration our readers trust,” noted Waterstones Managing Director James Daunt at the event.
Previous Waterstones Eleven authors have gone on to dominate the publishing world both critically and commercially in the year that followed. Rachel Joyce‘s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, was 2012’s best selling debut, as well as being longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, whilst The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen won last year’s Desmond Elliott Prize. The inaugural Waterstones Eleven included the top ten book of 2011, When God Was A Rabbit by Sarah Winman, and Téa Obreht‘s Orange Prize-winning The Tiger’s Wife.Here’s the full Waterstones Eleven 2013 list:
Pig’s Foot by Carlos Acosta (Bloomsbury), Idiopathy by Sam Byers (Fourth Estate), Y by Marjorie Celona (Faber and Faber), The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence (Hodder & Stoughton), Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (Picador), The Fields by Kevin Maher (Little, Brown), The Son by Michel Rostain (Tinder Press), The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan (Doubleday Ireland), Marriage Material by Sathnam Sanghera (William Heinemann), Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi (Viking), Ballistics by D.W. Wilson (Bloomsbury).