Francesca Kay wins the 2009 Orange Award for New Writers

British debut author Francesca Kay has won the 2009 Orange Award for New Writers with her novel An Equal Stillness (Weidenfeld & Nicolson).

Chair of Judges, Mishal Husain, presented the £10,000 bursary, provided by Arts Council England, to the author at the Orange Prize for Fiction awards ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London.

Mishal Husain, Chair of Judges said: “Francesca Kay’s achievement in this astonishing debut novel is to use her words as a paintbrush, rendering the art and life of a brilliant artist, Jennet Mallow, in vivid colours on the page.”

She continues,” This is a story of genius amid domesticity that will resonate with readers on a fundamental level. We’re thrilled to recommend this book and are excited to see what Francesca Kay does next.”

Launched in 2005 as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations for the Orange Prize for Fiction, the emphasis of the Orange Award for New Writers is on emerging talent and the evidence of future potential.

All first works of fiction - including novels, short story collections and novellas, written in English by a woman of any age or nationality and published as a book in the UK - are eligible. First time authors can be entered for both the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Orange Award for New Writers in any one year.

The judges for the 2009 Orange Award for New Writers are:

Mishal Husain (Chair), Presenter, BBC World News

Diana Evans, Author and winner of the inaugural Orange Award for New Writers Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent, Evening Standard

The winner of the inaugural Orange Award for New Writers in 2005 was Diana Evans for her novel 26a. Since her win, Diana has gone on to achieve notable success in a number of other literary awards.* Naomi Alderman took the award the following year for her novel Disobedience and has since gone on to win The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year (2007). Canadian writer Karen Connelly took the Award in 2007 for her novel The Lizard Cage and Joanna Kavenna won in 2008 for her first novel, Inglorious.

The Award was launched in 2005 in partnership with Arts Council England. Renewing their commitment to the partnership with Orange, Arts Council England recently committed a further £30,000 towards bursary awards for the winners of the Orange Award for New Writers. By offering a bursary to a novelist or short story writer for her first publication, the Arts Council is able to support the professional development of a writer at a crucial stage in her career.

Moira Sinclair, Executive Director of Arts Council England, London, said: "Arts Council England would like to congratulate Francesca Kay on winning this year's Orange Award for New Writers. We are very pleased to be supporting such an exciting writer at this important point in her career. The partnership with Orange is a vital part of our investment in emerging literary talent and we hope the award will enable a wonderful new writer to flourish."

Francesca Kay

Francesca Kay grew up in South-East Asia and India and has subsequently lived in Jamaica, the United States, Germany and Ireland. She now lives in Oxford with her family and works in British-Irish relations.

An Equal Stillness

Born in 1924, Jennet Mallow grows up in an austere rectory in Yorkshire where her interest in art and creativity alienates her from her family. Jennet moves to London in search of a more exciting life and finds it in the handsome and enigmatic figure of the painter David Heaton. When Jennet falls pregnant, her parents more or less force the two to marry and in the post war austerity of the 1940s, the young couple struggle to make ends meet. When David becomes increasingly reliant on drink and tired of the dank and drab house in which they live, Jennet agrees to move to Spain. There, the blue skies and warm air give the couple and their children a new lease of life. But as Jennet's own career begins to take off, her relationship with David sours and the two enter a destructive spiral with potentially tragic consequences.

The 2009 award ceremony took place in The Clore Ballroom of the Royal Festival Hall. Guests toasted the winner announcement at a champagne drinks reception courtesy of Taittinger.

-ENDS-

---

For more information: Amanda Johnson or Naomi Li at M&C Saatchi: Tel: 020 7543 4689/ 0207 544 3687 or 07715 922 180/ 07837 252 397 Email: amanda.johnson@mcsaatchi.com or naomi.li@mcsaatchi.com

For images please visit: www.orange.co.uk/newsroom

If you would like to speak to Francesca Kay after the 4th June 2009, please contact Elizabeth Allen at Weidenfeld & Nicolson on 0207 520 4474 or elizabeth.allen@orionbooks.co.uk

Notes to Editors

• Diana Evans took the first ever Orange Award for New Writers in 2005 for her debut novel, 26A. She has subsequently gone on to win the Decibel Award 2006 at the British Book Awards and was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award 2005.

About Orange

Orange is the key brand of the France Telecom Group, one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators. With 123 million customers, the Orange brand now covers Internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the Group operates.

At the end of 2008, France Telecom had consolidated sales of 53.5 billion euros (12.7 billion euros for the first quarter of 2009) and at 29 April 2009, the Group had a customer base of almost 184 million customers in 30 countries. These include 123 million mobile customers worldwide and 13 million broadband Internet (ADSL) customers in Europe. Orange is the number three mobile operator and the number one provider of broadband Internet services in Europe and, under the brand Orange Business Services, is one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services to multinational companies.

In the UK, Orange provides high quality GSM coverage to 99% of the UK population. At the end of March 2009, Orange had almost 17 million customers in the UK – 15.8 million active mobile customers and close to one million fixed broadband customers.

Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trade marks of Orange Personal Communications Services Limited.

For more information: www.orange.com, www.francetelecom.com, www.orange-business.com

For further information, call the Orange press office on 0870 373 1500 or email: Orangepr@golinharris.com or visit www.orange.co.uk/newsroom

Arts Council England works to get great art to everyone by championing, developing and investing in artistic experiences that enrich people's lives. As the national development agency for the arts, we support a range of artistic activities from theatre to music, literature to dance, photography to digital art, and carnival to crafts. Great art inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves, and the world around us. In short, it makes life better.

Between 2008 and 2011, we will invest £1.3 billion of public money from government and a further £0.3 billion from the National Lottery to create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. http://www.artscouncil.org.uk

For more information (media only) please contact: Mathew Hanratty, Assistant Press Officer, t: 020 7608 4182, e: mathew.hanratty@artscouncil.org.uk