John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 2009 winner - Evie Wyld

"29-year-old Evie Wyld saw off competition from an exceptional shortlist which included the Booker winner Aravind Adiga and Orange Prize winner Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to win the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 2009 with her book After the Fire, a Still Small Voice. The novel, which was published to rave reviews in August 2009, is set in eastern Australia and tells a story of fathers and sons, their wars and the things that they will never know about each other. Following the collapse of his marriage, Frank retreats to a small costal community in an attempt to build a new life for himself, away from the horrors of his violent past. Frank's story is set against the struggles of his own father, Leon, who forty years earlier, is forced to depart from life working in his family's suburban cake shop to face horrors of his own in the war in Vietnam. Wyld, who was named one of Granta's New Voices of 2008, received her cheque for GBP5,000 at a ceremony at the Century Club in Piccadilly" Evie Wyld's website