The McKitterick Prize Winner: Wenyan Lu for The Funeral Cryer
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Wenyan Lu’s novel, “The Funeral Cryer,” wins The McKitterick Prize
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McKitterick Prize
Sponsored by the Hawthornden Foundation, the McKitterick Prize is awarded for a first novel by a writer over 40. Judged by Anietie Isong, Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott, Rebecca Foster, Gonzalo C. Garcia and Rónán Hession.
THE MCKITTERICK PRIZE WINNER: WENYAN LU FOR THE FUNERAL CRYER (ATLANTIC BOOKS, ALLEN & UNWIN)
Wenyan Lu is a novelist from Shanghai, China, represented by Kemi Ogunsanwo. Wenyan holds an MSt in Creative Writing and Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is also a literary translator, and teaches Creative Writing. Her novel The Funeral Cryer won the SI Leeds Literary Award before publication in the UK (Allen & Unwin), North America (Harper Collins) and Italy (Garzanti). The Funeral Cryer was Books Are My Bag’s Fiction of the Month and one of Kobo’s Best Fiction of the Month for May 2023. Wenyan is currently working on the submission of her second novel. She lives with her husband and two children in Cambridge.
McKitterick Prize judge Rónán Hession said:
‘Wenyan Lu has created an unforgettable debut, brimming with personality and written with a sense of consummate ease. The Funeral Cryer is such a funny, warm and original book. An absolute gem of a novel.’