Prize set up to reward 'brave, bold' publishers goes to Fitzcarraldo

First Republic of Consciousness award to honour small presses recognises the London independent for short story collection Counternarratives by John Keene

Set up to reward “brave, bold and brilliant” small presses for taking risks on “niche fiction”, the inaugural Republic of Consciousness prize has been won by Fitzcarraldo for publishing Counternarratives by John Keene.

Fitzcarraldo, a London-based independent established in 2014, published Keene’s experimental collection of 13 stories and novellas last year. The American writer’s book was the unanimous choice of the six judges, who deemed it a “once in a generation achievement for short-form fiction” and praised its “subject matter, formal inventiveness, multitude of voices, and seriousness of purpose”.

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