The Boy Next Door
Irene Sabatini

19.15pm, London, 9 June 2010: Zimbabwean debut author Irene Sabatini has won the 2010 Orange Award for New Writers with her novel The Boy Next Door (Sceptre).

Chair of Judges, Di Speirs, 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 attended by Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cornwall.

Di Speirs, Chair of Judges said: “Immediately engaging, vivid and buzzing with energy, The Boy Next Door is the work of a true storyteller.  At heart a love story, it is also so much more as, through the experiences of its charismatic protagonists, it charts the first two decades of the emerging Zimbabwe with honesty, humour and humanity.”

She continues, “Irene Sabatini has written an important book that will enchant readers and which marks the emergence of a serious new talent.”

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.

Diana Evans took the first ever Orange Award for New Writers in 2005 for her debut novel, 26A.  She subsequently went on to win the Decibel Award 2006 at the British Book Awards and was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award 2005.  Naomi Alderman won the Orange Award for New Writers in 2006 and has since gone on to win The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year (2007) for her first novel, Disobedience.

Canadian writer, Karen Connelly, took the Award in 2007 for her novel, The Lizard Cage and Joanna Kavenna won the Award in 2008 for her debut novel, Inglorious. Most recently, Francesca Kay took the Award in 2009 for her first work, An Equal Stillness.

The Award was launched in 2005 in partnership with Arts Council England.  Renewing their commitment to the partnership with Orange in 2008, Arts Council England committed a further £30,000 over three years (£10,000 per year) for 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, London Executive Director of Arts Council England, said:  "Arts Council England would like to congratulate Irene Sabatini 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."