Dubai: Aspiring female authors from the UK and the Indian subcontinent swept the 5th Montegrappa Prize for fiction on the second day of the Emirates Literature Festival here on Saturday.
Rebekah Heaney, 23-year-old British expat, won the first prize for her maiden novel ‘What We Learnt at Number 9’.
“I feel overwhelmed, to be honest. I was nervous as the entries were read out and the second place was announced I thought that’s it, my book hasn’t won and I said to myself let me try next time. And then when started reading out the final entry, I could recognise it. I couldn’t believe it for a moment, I am just awestruck,” said Heaney, who works as a web editor for the magazines section of Gulf News.
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She added that she never knew what would happen to her manuscript as she typed away in her room, before she decided to take part in the competition.
Heaney hopes to finish rest of her manuscript in the next few months and land a deal with a publisher soon.
According to Luigi Binomi, the competition’s judge, the book’s intriguing plot revolving around a woman who is dying won it for Heaney.
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“Set in the English countryside in a small village, the book is an excellent and very filmic idea, a sort of modern twist on the timeless genre,” said Binomi, who is also a literary agent.
The second prize was bagged by 27-year-old Pakistani marketing professional Musfira Shaffi for her work ‘Swiped Away’.
Shaffi, who is a graduate of the London School of Economics, entered the contest last year as well and got lucky the second time.
“I entered last year as well and I wasn’t selected but I didn’t lose my heart and tried my luck again. Frankly, I didn’t expect to grab the second place but when Karachi was mentioned during the presentation, I thought I have a chance,” said Shaffi, who hails from the Pakistan’s financial capital Karachi.
Binomi described Shaffi as the Jane Austen of the 21st century for the sheer vitality of her writing tinged with humour.
This year, the Montegrappa Prize received 130 entries and Binomi said it was a tough decision to select only five.
The other three winners were ‘Pond’ by Jennifer Bromhan from the UK, ‘Rainbow Dorms’ by Farzeen Ashik form India and ‘Temptation at Tiffany’s’ by Helga Jensen-Forde from the UK.
The prize, which helps facilitate book deals for the winners, has seen several previous winners land book contracts with major publishers.
According to Charles Nahas, managing director of Montegrappa Middle East, the competition is a great platform to give the right exposure to aspiring writers and has helped six of the winners from last four years to land a deal with international publishers.
“We have been part of this writing competition for the last five years and what’s wonderful about this prize is that we are helping a lot of Dubai-based authors to get published internationally. These are major publishing deals and their books are going to be sold across the world. This is a great thing for Dubai to provide such a platform for young writers,” said Nahas.
He added that a lot of Emirati writers are also getting exposure through this platform with one of the winners last year being an Emirati.
The winners go away with a Montegrappa pen and a hope of getting published.
This year, the prizes were given away by John Hemingway, grandson of Ernest Hemingway, who also launched his family memoir ‘Strange Tribe’ on Friday.
Box
Five winners
Rebekah Heaney: What We Learnt At Number 9
Musfira Shaffi: Swiped Away
Jennifer Bromhan: Pond,
Farzeen Ashik: Rainbow Dorms
Helga Jensen-Forde: Temptation at Tiffany’s
