Giada Scodellaro won the $10,000 Novel Prize, which recognizes works that "explore and expand the possibilities of the form, and are innovative and imaginative in style," for her debut novel, Ruins, Child. The biennial award is for a book-length work of literary fiction written in English by published and unpublished writers from around the world.
In addition to a cash prize, the winner receives simultaneous publication in North America by New Directions, in the U.K. and Ireland by Fitzcarraldo Editions, and in Australia and New Zealand by Giramondo.
Scodellaro commented: "I am so humbled, so thrilled, so in awe of this outcome. What a dream it is for this work to exist outside of myself. A collaboration with the extraordinary New Directions, Fitzcarraldo, and Giramondo affords Ruins, Child an urgent and expansive opportunity--a life."