Centre for New Writing’s Gareth Gavin named in Goldsmith Prize shortlist

Congratulations to University of Manchester Senior Lecturer Gareth Gavin who has been recognised in the shortlist for this year’s Goldsmiths prize.

Never Was - Gareth Gavin

Published in April 2023, Gareth’s Never Was: A Novel Without a World has made this year’s six-book shortlist from 107 entries.

Director for Creative Manchester’s Professor John McAuliffe wrote:

“

The Goldsmiths Prize always uncovers great books, and we're delighted that Gareth's brilliantly original and affecting novel has been recognised by the judges.

„

Never Was takes the reader from a limbo of lost dreams to a small salt-mining town in the North, exploring transness alongside class, addiction and grief, and examining the way identity is both inherited and re-invented.

Judge Ellen Peirson-Hagger, assistant culture editor at the New Statesman, the prize’s partner, said:

“

A feat of imagination [...], Never Was is a great trans novel, queering and querying expectations of character, type and truth itself.

„

The Prize, which celebrates “fiction that breaks the mould”, carries a prize of £10,000.

The Goldsmith’s Prize winner will be announced on 8 November 2023.