Republic of Consciousness Prize for Best Novel published by a Small Press

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I am well aware that, while I have quite a few reviews of books published by independent presses, I do not have many published by UK-based independent presses, publishing books originally written in English. Author Neil Griffiths, author of books such as Betrayal in Naples and Saving Caravaggio, is setting up The Republic of Consciousness Prize for Best Novel published by a Small Press. He outlines his reasons here. He points out that he has only recently discovered a few small presses – Fitzcarraldo Editions, Galley Beggar Press and And Other Stories are specifically mentioned. I have books published by all of them on my website. He specifically mentions Zone (Zone) by Matthias Enard, which was first published in English in the US by Open Letter, with Fitzcarraldo publishing it in the UK. As well as Zone, he mentions A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, which did not really work for me and Claire-Louise Bennett’s Pond, which I had not heard of, but which looks interesting. If you scroll down on this page, you can read his A broadside against mainstream publishing, which is worth reading and with which I can only agree. I wish him luck with this prize and shall follow it with interest.

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