Creative Writing Teaching Fellow shortlisted for Kelpies Prize
Rebecca Smith’s first novel for children, Shadow Eyes, was one of only three on the shortlist for this year’s Kelpies Prize.
Shadow Eyes is a story about 11 year old twins, Alex and Katrina, who spend a summer in the Scottish Highlands while their mother is recovering from a breakdown. The twins are sure that there is a big cat at large, but nobody will believe them…
Edinburgh-based publisher, Floris Books, run The Kelpies Prize for new novels set in Scotland for 8 – 12 year olds The judges said that “Shadow Eyes was a novel that stood out in the pile from first glance. The relationship between the two central sibling characters is subtle, credible and affecting. There is strong emotion and difficult, though realistic, themes. The mother's breakdown was handled with unusual sensitivity and the narrating voice is confident and smooth.”
Shadow Eyes will be published in 2013. Meanwhile, Rebecca’s first work of non-fiction, Jane Austen’s Guide to Modern Life’s Dilemmas, will be published on both sides of the Atlantic this autumn and her three novels for adults (all published by Bloomsbury) will be available as e-books for the first time in September. Rebecca is a Teaching Fellow in English.
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Ms Rebecca M Smith
Ms Rebecca Smith is a novelist and Principal Teaching Fellow in English at the University of Southampton.
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