Awards: Ondaatje Prize
Ian Thomson's The Dead Yard won the £10,000 (US$14,326) Ondaatje prize, which honors a book that best evokes the spirit of a place. The Guardian wrote that The Dead Yard "sees the author walking the streets of Jamaica, describing its poverty, gang rule and police brutality, meeting its people and exploring how the country has changed since its independence in 1962. 'You visitors are always getting it wrong,' he is told by one Jamaican. 'Either it's golden beaches or guns, guns, guns, guns. Is there nothing in between?' "
Thomson's book bested a shortlist that included The Plot by Madeleine Bunting, The Shadow of a Smile by Kachi A. Ozumba and In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin.
