First-time Yorkshire author defies odds to make Man Booker shortlist

A first-time York author, whose book was only published last month, has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize alongside literary big hitters Paul Auster and Ali Smith. Fiona Mozley discovered she has made the cut from a long-list of 13 authors on Friday, but was sworn to secrecy until the shortlist for the prestigious £50,000 prize was made public.
York author Fiona Mozley, whose book Elmet, has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.York author Fiona Mozley, whose book Elmet, has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
York author Fiona Mozley, whose book Elmet, has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

The 29 year old, whose novel Elmet has won rave reviews, said: “My editor called and said. ‘I’ve she had some good news, can you guess what it is?’ I was too nervous to play that game, but when she said I had made the shortlist I couldn’t believe it.

“As a first-time author just making the longlist was an unthinkable achievement, so being on the shortlist, well, let’s just say it’s all just a little surreal. Since I was longlisted people keep asking me when I will find out whether I’ve got to the next stage and it’s been really difficult not to tell anyone the good news. ”

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Fiona, who juggled writing the novel with studying for a PhD in medieval studies at the University of York and working in the city’s Little Apple Bookshop, is used to keeping secrets. She first put pen to paper in 2013, but didn’t tell her family she was writing a novel until she secured a publishing deal late last year. And her parents only got to read the final version in July.

“I started writing the book while I was living in London working as an intern for a literary agent and continued on evenings and weekends when I came back to York three years ago. It was a very slow process, but then towards the end of last year it was finished and I sent it off to various publishers.

“Like every author I got a lot of rejection letters, but in November John Murray said they were interested and in January I signed the contract. I knew though that the book would have to go through an editing process and I didn’t want anyone else to read it until everything had been finalised.”

Elmet, which tells the story of a family who build a house on land they don’t own, is set in South Yorkshire and was partly inspired by a train journey from London back home to York.

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“I had been mulling over a few ideas for a novel,” added Ms Mozley, who went to Fulford School before securing a place at Cambridge University. “But then I saw this copse in between York and Doncaster and that was the starting point. I wrote the first chapter right there on the train, but the rest of it took a little longer to come together.”

Books published between October 1 last year and September 30 this year are eligible for the 2017 prize and the award can prove life changing. Life of Pi author Yan Martel and Kazuo Ishiguro, who wrote Remains of the Day, both saw their books turned into films after winning the Man Booker and the award can also provide a massive boost to sales.

Fional will now go up against Paul Auster, Emily Fridlund, Mohsin Hamid, Fiona Mozley, George Saunders and Ali Smith.

“I haven’t decided whether I should write a speech just in case. It feels a bit presumptuous, but I have a fear of standing up in front of people and having no words, so maybe I should put down a few thoughts.

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“It has been quite a year and my partner Megan and I are due to get married in a few weeks. She is much more well-read than I am, so I will be relying on her to whisper intelligent things to say when we do get to the ceremony.

“I really can’t believe that I will be in the same room as the likes of Ali Smith. I mean, who’d have thought that a story about little old Yorkshire written by little old me would end up among that illustrious company?”

The winner of this year’s Man Booker Prize will be announced on October 17.

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