Conville & Walsh

Conville & Walsh is delighted to announce that Ali Shaw has been named the winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize for The Girl with Glass Feet, published by Atlantic Books.

Elizabeth Buchan, who chaired the judging panel, comments, ‘This is an extraordinary first novel - bold, original, tragic and endlessly surprising. In its exploration of frozen landscapes, both interior and exterior, and in its precisely detailed and articulated fantasy, it is possible to see a substantial author of the future.’

Shaw spent almost five years writing The Girl with Glass Feet. He drew inspiration from Kafka’s Metamorphosis which led him to reading fairy stories and folklore. From here, he began exploring his own style using magical or fantastical elements within his writing as a way to express emotion. After working as a bookseller and at Oxford’s Bodleian Library, he is now concentrating solely on his writing and is currently penning his second novel.

The Desmond Elliott Prize is an annual award for a first novel written in English and published in the UK. When judging the prize, the judges were looking for a novel that was vividly written and confidently realised, containing original and arresting characters.