Wales Book of the Year People’s Choice win
Hummingbird, the latest novel by Cardiff University lecturer Dr Tristan Hughes, has won the People's Choice award at Wales Book of the Year 2018. Sponsored by Wales Arts Review in partnership with Literature Wales, the award is given to the book with the largest number of public votes in all three categories: poetry, fiction and creative fiction at the awards known as the literary highlight of the year in Wales. The book made the shortlist of three works in the prized Fiction Award category, nominated alongside Crystal Jeans' Light Switches Are My Kryptonite and Lloyd Markham's Bad Ideas/Chemicals . On behalf of the judging panel, broadcaster and author Carolyn Hitt said: "For me the judging process has been challenging and inspiring in equal measures. We had to make some brutal decisions to whittle down our choices. But this is a shortlist that reflects the diversity and quality of Welsh writing in English - from established names at the peak of their powers to the breakthrough of exciting new voices." In his latest novel, Hughes returns to the landscape of his youth in this vivid and poetic coming-of-age story about death, life, and the changes they bring. Set against the harsh, unforgiving beauty of the forests of northern Ontario, Hummingbird unravels a moving tale of loss, absence and redemption.
