Van Stanley has won this year’s Little, Brown UEA Crime Award for her novel Sins of Choice worth £3,000. The novel follows two police deputies searching for a missing local girl in a small American community, a case that leads them to a cult-like church one of them escaped as a teenager.
The award is given to the best manuscript by graduating students on the University of East Anglia MA Creative Writing Crime Fiction degree course, judged by editors from Little, Brown imprint Sphere and chaired by Sphere’s departing publishing director Ed Wood.
Sins of Choice saw off competition from a shortlist of titles comprised of Men Would Kill for This by Sheena Cook, and The Hunters by Kate Bailey.
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Wood said: “Sins of Choice is an incredibly complete first novel: well paced, well structured and populated with rich characters who convince completely. Like Anna Bailey’s Tall Bones or Chris Whitaker’s novels, it’s a world to lose yourself in.”
Rosanna Forte, taking over from Ed Wood as chair of the judges when he departs Little, Brown, said: “The submissions this year were incredibly strong, and we had a tough job choosing a winner from the shortlist. However we were ultimately won over by the confidence of Van’s narrative voice, and the novel’s winning balance of plot and pace with characters that are roundly drawn and wholly convincing.”
Stanley said: “Neurodiversity plays a huge part in my writing as a neurodivergent writer, I feel incredibly grateful that my work has been recognised in this way. My UEA tutors and brilliant cohort have been so supportive and understanding of my differences and the challenges I faced while writing this novel. I am so thankful to Little, Brown for their generosity.”
Stanley joins previous winners including acclaimed authors Femi Kayode and Emma Styles.
