Preti Taneja's 'awe-inspiring' reimagining of King Lear wins Desmond Elliott prize
Debut novel We That Are Young takes £10,000 award after early struggles to find a publisher
Preti Taneja’s debut novel We That Are Young, a reimagining of King Lear set in contemporary India that was rejected by multiple major publishers as commercially unviable, has won the £10,000 Desmond Elliott prize.
Judges for the award, which is named after the late literary agent and publisher and is intended to reward a first novel that is “both vividly written and confidently realised”, described We That Are Young as “awe-inspiring” in its “scope, ambition, skill and wisdom”. Chair and author Sarah Perry said that after reading it, she and her fellow judges “sat together shaking our heads, saying, ‘If this is her first novel, what extraordinary work will come next?’”
Related: We That Are Young by Preti Taneja review – King Lear in Delhi
Related: What is it like being a first-time novelist today? – books podcast
