News | Tuesday, 26th January 2021
Monique Roffey’s The Mermaid of Black Conch named Costa Book of the Year
Writing School lecturer scoops leading prize in British literature
Author and lecturer Dr Monique Roffey has won the Costa Book of the Year – one of the most prestigious awards in British literature.
Already named best novel, Roffey’s The Mermaid of Black Conch has now scooped the overall £30,000 prize.
Her novel, a dark love story between a fisherman and a mermaid torn from the sea based on a Neo-Taino legend, was described by judges as a "a classic in the making from a writer at the height of her powers".
Joining esteemed past winners including Seamus Heaney, Hillary Mantel and Kazuo Ishiguro, Roffey is the 13th novelist - and the first since Sebastian Barry in 2016 - to win the overall Costa Book of the Year, a prize rivalled only by the Booker in terms of its outstanding literary prestige.
Dr Roffey, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Manchester Writing School, Manchester Metropolitan University, said: "The Costa Book of the Year Award is a prestigious prize to win with a wide reach in the world of books and so I'm utterly thrilled to win it.
“This is a vote for so many things: indie presses, Caribbean literature, magical realism and of course mermaids. Myself and Leeds based indie legendary publisher Peepal Tree Press are utterly delighted."
The Costa Book Awards are the only major UK book prize open solely to authors resident in the UK and Ireland, and has five categories – First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Book – with one of the five winning books selected as the overall Costa Book of the Year. This year, it was selected by a panel of judges chaired by historian, author and broadcaster Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and comprising category judges Jill Dawson, Sadie Jones, Horatio Clare, Zaffar Kunial and Patrice Lawrence, joined by actor and writer Stephen Mangan, television and radio presenter Angellica Bell and presenter and book vlogger Simon Savidge.
Professor Lipscomb said: “We loved all of the books and deliberated for three hours before choosing our winner. The Mermaid of Black Conch is an extraordinary, beautifully written, captivating, visceral book – full of mythic energy and unforgettable characters, including some tremendously transgressive women.”
She continued: “It is utterly original - unlike anything we’ve ever read - and feels like a classic in the making from a writer at the height of her powers. It’s a book that will take you to the furthest reaches of your imagination - we found it completely compelling.”
Roffey is an award-winning Trinidadian-born British writer of seven novels, essays, a memoir and literary journalism. Her novels, which include The White Woman on the Green Bicycle and House of Ashes, have been shortlisted for the Orange Prize, Encore Award and the Costa Novel Award; she won the OCM BOCAS Award for Caribbean Literature for Archipelago in 2013. After securing a publishing deal with Peepal Tree Press, Monique crowdfunded the fee for her publicity campaign, hitting her target in just three weeks after support from authors.
The Costa Book of the Year Award is a prestigious prize to win with a wide reach in the world of books and so I'm utterly thrilled to win it
Though the first to win the overall Book of the Year, Roffey is the fifth current member of the Manchester Writing School to win a Costa Award, following Andrew Michael Hurley’s Best First Novel Award in 2015, two-time winners of the Poetry Award Professors Carol Ann Duffy and Michael Symmons Roberts, and Professor Jean Sprackland, who also won the Poetry Award in 2007.
Professor Jess Edwards, Head of English at Manchester Metropolitan, said: “Monique’s colleagues and students in the English Department and Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan are pleased and proud that her novel has received this further accolade from the Costa judges."
It is utterly original - unlike anything we’ve ever read - and feels like a classic in the making from a writer at the height of her powers. It’s a book that will take you to the furthest reaches of your imagination - we found it completely compelling.
Set in a tiny Caribbean village in the 1970s, The Mermaid of Black Conch follows Aycayia, a centuries old mermaid, who becomes entranced by a fisherman, David, and his song.
The book explores themes of unconditional love, friendship, family and loss, examined without sentimentality. Roffey writes convincingly about a mermaid, a ‘legend drawn from the sea’, returned to land, to survive, heal and live again, as a real woman in modern times.
Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo has described Roffey as “a unique talent and most daring and versatile of writers”, while the Sunday Times hailed The Mermaid of Black Conch as “an arresting slice of Caribbean magic realism… Sensuous, beguiling but without whimsy.”
