'Sultry, sweaty' portrayal of Singapore wins writer £10,000 prize to help finish debut novel

Sharlene Wen-Ning Teo takes first Deborah Rogers writers’ award, for what Ian McEwan describes as a ‘remarkable first novel in the making’

The unpublished Singaporean writer Sharlene Wen-Ning Teo has been selected as the first winner of the Deborah Rogers writers’ award, a £10,000 prize that supports authors as they finish their first book.

Ian McEwan, who read an extract of Teo’s unfinished novel Ponti and presented the award, called it “a remarkable first novel in the making”.

Related: Deborah Rogers obituary

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