A book set in Huddersfield has been shortlisted for a national literary prize.
Brighouse author Dan Micklethwaite’s debut novel, The Less Than Perfect Legend of Donna Creosote, is one of six finalists in the eighth annual Not the Booker Prize 2016.
The finalists were chosen from a “longlist” of 147 contenders for the competition, which is run by The Guardian newspaper and attracted more than 1,500 votes from the reading public.
A judging panel will select the winner in a live online event. The winning book will be announced on October 24 at theguardian.com/books.
In true non-Booker Prize style, the winner will receive a drinking mug rather than money.
The Less Than Perfect Legend of Donna Creosote, published by Hebden Bridge-based independent Bluemoose Books, is billed as a modern fairy tale “where the mundane becomes fantastical and the everyday ethereal, but where living happily ever after is often easier read than done”.
The book’s central character, Donna Crick-Oakley, lives at the top of a tower block but pads her walls and floor with books to shut the real world further out. Armed with her myths and medieval adventures, Donna sets out to escape her isolation and change her home town to better suit her dreams.
Dan, who has previously focused on short fiction, will be signing copies of his new novel from 11am on Saturday, September 10, at Waterstones in the Kingsgate Centre, Huddersfield.
Dan has more than 30 short fiction publications to his name, covering a wide range of themes and genres from realist tales of isolation, to retold fairy stories, to hard science-fiction and fantasy.
