Congratulations to William Heinemann author Nicola Barker, who has won this year's Goldsmiths Prize for her eleventh novel, the darkly creative H(A)PPY.
Described as a 'post-post apocalyptic Alice in Wonderland', H(A)PPY is a story which tells itself and then consumes itself. It's a place where language glows, where words buzz and sparkle and finally implode, as a perfect world unravels.
Running in association with The New Statesman, the £10,000 prize awards 'fiction at its most novel' with the shortlist being chosen by a judging panel made up of chair Naomi Wood, writers Kevin Barry and AL Kennedy, and writer, singer and songwriter Tracey Thorn. Joining Nicola on the shortlist were Penguin Random House UK authors Sara Baume (for A Line Made by Walking) and Will Self (for Phone).