Wednesday 4 June 2008 in the Ballroom at the Royal Festival Hall, London

Lucy Yeomans: Good evening everybody. Before I announce the winner, I just want to say just how important this award has become to us at Harper’s Bazaar. Creative writing forms an essential part of the magazine and just this year we have been very fortunate to publish stories by Woody Allen, Esther Freud and, indeed, last year’s Orange Prize winner, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

We have high hopes for this year’s winner, who we’re sure will follow in the footsteps of one of our past success stories, Clare Allan. So I’m really thrilled to announce that the winner of this year’s Orange / Harper’s Bazaar Short Story Competition is Sukhraj Kaur Randhawa.

Kate Mosse: Thank you very much Lucy, and congratulations Sukhraj. Next we come to the Orange Broadband Award for New Writers. This was set up four years ago in association with Arts Council England as part of the Orange Prize’s tenth birthday celebrations. And this sister award celebrates first fiction of excellence, accessibility and originality, as well s potential and promise.

I’m now delighted to welcome to the stage, the chair of this year’s Orange Broadband Award for New Writers judging panel, who has raced hotfoot from the House of Commons, protecting our civil liberties, Shami Chakrabarti.

Shami Chakrabarti: Thank yous first. Thanks again to Orange, and I heard that speech too and really mean it. Thanks to Kate and to the Women’s Committee for giving me the humbling privilege of being in the room when great writing was born or, at least, shown to the world. Thanks to my fellow judges, Clare Allan, a great writer herself and Suzi Feay, a great critic and appreciater of writing. Thanks to the writers and, maybe in a way, thanks most of all to the grumpy old men who don’t like this competition [cheers]. You response really makes it all worthwhile [laughter].

And now to the shortlist. The three great women and the great books that moved us and inspired us and made us so excited. All great writers. Firstly, Firstly, from North America, The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff – this is alphabetical, by the way. A fantastical work of ambition and imagination. Secondly, from the continent of Europe and the island of the United Kingdom, Inglorious by Joanna Kavenna, an extraordinary journey from the ordinary into the epic. And thirdly, from Africa, The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam, by Lauren Liebenberg: through the eyes of a child we see the past and the present, and who knows, things we didn’t want to see; things that we did.

And now I get to make the big announcement. I have to tell you that it is a humbling pleasure to say that the winner of the Orange Broadband Award for New Writers 2008 and a great writer who I have no doubt will be read long after I am gone is, for Inglorious, Joanna Kavenna. [applause]

Joanna Kavenna I didn’t think I stood a chance when I saw the shortlist, and this is wonderful for me and I wanted to thank the judges very much indeed and also Orange: the money is fantastically useful. And also I wanted to thank Neil Belton and everyone at Faber who worked with me on the book and also Anna Webber who was there from the start with it. And also my partner who’s literally holding our two-week-old daughter, without whom I wouldn’t be here at all. I’m sure there are lots of other people I should thank. But I’m just absolutely delighted. It’s wonderful to have your early work encouraged in this way. So thank you very much. [applause]

Kate Mosse: Congratulations to Joanna and thank you very much to Shami, because, as anyone who follows the news will know, Shami has had one or two things on her mind this week, more than outstanding fiction.

Now finally we come to the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction. I am delighted to welcome to the stage, the tireless and hardworking chair of judges, Kirsty Lang.

Kirsty Lang: Thank you Kate and thank you everyone for coming here this evening. I should mention that, during half term week, probably like a lot of families in Britain, I spent a lot of time watching TV talent shows. And it’s all so glamorous here this evening, that I half expect Graham Norton or Ant and Dec to come and pat me on the back.

So thank you Orange for making such a great show of this. But I’m going to stop my comparisons there with TV talent shows, because I like to think that the judges of the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction are a much more considered bunch. Indeed l’d like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow judges, Bel Mooney, Philippa Gregory and Lisa Allardice fro all their hard work, because there are a lot of books to read, everyone took the task extremely seriously.

I’ve really enjoyed being submerged in a fictional world for the last few months. It’s been fantastic. And having dso many intense discussions about literature. It’s like being part of a fantastic book group, which includes two writers, a literary editor – I was, of course, chosen for my hair colour [laughter].

I’d also like to thank Lily Allen, who was one of our judges to start with, and who played a very important role in the initial selection of books for the longlist and who sadly due to unforeseen events, was unable to continue until the end. But her impact is felt on this Prize.

But now I’d like to introduce you to the stars of this show. We’re now going to meet our six nominees for this year’s Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction.

Nancy Huston
Sadie Jones
Charlotte Mendelson
Heather O’Neill
Rose Tremain
Patricia Wood

[all authors came up on to the stage to receive a bouquet of flowers, and a specially bound copy of their novel]

I’d really like to thank all six nominees for bringing us, the judges, so much pleasure this year. I feel terribly attached to all six books, having spent so much time with them and I’m loathe to let them go, they feel like my adopted children, I love them all, so thank you. They’re all unique in their own way, they all deal with serious issues, they’re all warm engaging and, very often, incredibly funny. They all meet the Orange criteria of excellence, originality and accessibility. They are all books that I would happily press into the hand of a friend and say ‘read this’.

Sadly, there can only be one winner. It was not an easy decision to make. Contrary to the bookies’ predictions, we didn’t have an obvious favourite at the beginning of our meeting when we met last night to decide the winner. We spent nearly three hours debating. All six books were discussed at length and in depth. We talked about structure, we talked about themes, we talked about whether we were convinced by the characters and the quality of the writing.

But, in the end, we all agreed on one winner. A beautifully-crafter novel that showed great emotional empathy, from an author at the top of her game.

For The Road Home, Rose Tremain. [cheers]

Rose Tremain: Well – I would have spent more time perfecting this speech instead of my loser’s smile! [laughter] Let’s thank Orange very much, and I agree with Shami Chakrabarti. Come on you guys, stop grumping. This is a prize that celebrates women’s fiction. And, in this year, when A L Kennedy has won the Costa, when Anne Enright has won the Man Booker and when Doris Lessing has won the Nobel, I think there’s a lot to celebrate! [cheers].

So thank you very much to lots of people. To my partner in love and work, Richard Holmes, to my agent, Vivien Green and to my other agents Janet Fillingham and Bill Clegg who, I think has come all the way from America and is here somewhere. Thank you for all your support. But most especially, thank you to my editor, Penny Hoare [cheers]. Penny published my first book in 1976 – after it was rejected by seven others, I must admit – and all I can say is this [the Bessie] a rather beautiful woman, naked, it’s for you, Penny. Thank you very much.

Kate Mosse: Ladies and gentleman, while Rose has her picture taken many times, it’s time to party!