Andrew Miller nominated for South Bank Award
4th April 2012
Andrew Miller, who scooped the 2011 Costa Book of the Year Award for his acclaimed novel Pure, is in contention to win the literature prize at the 2012 South Bank Sky Arts Awards.
Miller's work beat off competition from a strong shortlist to scoop the Costa prize and the author will be hoping to do the same at the South Bank Awards, though his two fellow contenders include Claire Tomalin, whose Charles Dickens: A Life was nominated for the Costa Biography Award before losing out to Matthew Hollis' Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas.
Jeanette Winterson's critically acclaimed memoir Why be Happy When You Could be Normal? completes the list of nominees for the literature prize, which will be awarded during a ceremony at The Dorchester in London on May 1st.
Melvyn Bragg, who will once again be master of ceremonies at the awards, said the event will be 'a celebration of British arts' and acknowledged the 'world-class list' of contenders.
'The South Bank Sky Arts Awards are the only one of their kind in the world, and we very much look forward to a great day, where we'll recognise and honour the best talent in this country,' he added.
The 2012 South Bank Sky Arts theatre prize will also be presented at the event, with the 2012 nominees including the Royal Shakespeare Company's Matilda: The Musical, an adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic children's tale.
It will go up against the National Theatre's acclaimed stage version of Richard Bean's One Man, Two Guvnors, itself a contemporary reworking of Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters, and the Royal Court's Constellations.
Meanwhile, Stephen Kelman, who was shortlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize for his debut novel Pigeon English, before losing out to Julian Barnes' The Sense of An Ending, is one of ten people nominated for The Times Breakthrough Award, the winner of which will be voted for by members of the public and announced at the ceremony.