Prize shares £10,000 between publishers amid coronavirus damage

Fitzcarraldo Editions wins Republic of Consciousness prize for Jean-Baptiste Del Amo’s Animalia, but money is split between five tiny presses

Small press Fitzcarraldo Editions, which published the Nobel laureates Svetlana Alexievich and Olga Tokarczuk before they were recognised by the Swedish Academy, has landed the Republic of Consciousness prize for the novel Animalia by Jean-Baptiste Del Amo – but will share the £10,000 award with its fellow shortlistees.

Half-funded by the University of East Anglia, the award celebrates the best fiction from publishers with fewer than five full-time employees. Animalia, translated from French by Frank Wynne, follows a peasant family in the 20th century as their plot of land is developed into an intensive pig farm.

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