2015 winner announced!

13th June, 2015

John Spurling has won the sixth Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for his novel set in imperial China, The Ten Thousand Things. The author was at the Brewin Dolphin Borders Book Festival in Melrose to receive his prize from the Duke of Buccleuch on Saturday 13th June.

Alistair Moffat, Chair of Judges, said:

“The judging panel had an apples-vs.-pears choice this year, from a bumper shortlist of seven books – our biggest shortlist ever. From the audacity of Martin Amis’ concentration camp satire, to a post-modern mash-up of seventeenth-century court and contemporary references, via Sicily, India, Turkey and France, we journeyed and lived ten thousand lives ourselves during the reading and discussion of these books. In the end, it was the illumination shone by John Spurling on this fascinating and little-known period that lit us up for the longest time. It is a book which deserves enormous credit, and we hope that the Walter Scott Prize can help bring it for him.”

The Ten Thousand Things is set in 14th-century China, during the final years of the Mongol-ruled Yuan Dynasty, and is the story of Wang Meng, one of the era’s four great masters of painting. It is John Spurling’s fourth novel; he is also a prolific playwright.  The Judges described the book as:  “…subtle and rewarding. Through John Spurling’s writing you feel as though you are reading Wang Meng’s paintings as he created them. It is a mesmerising, elegantly drawn picture of old imperial China, which feels remarkably modern.”

John Spurling commented on winning the Prize:

” I am worried for very young writers who win prizes and are told they are geniuses, and can never write anything again.  I always thought that I would like success to be in my seventies, and I’m seventy-nine this year, so have just made it!”  Spurling, whose novel was rejected 44 times before being published, also thanked his agent for his persistence.

The award ceremony in Melrose was presented by chair of judges Alistair Moffat, and  extracts from each of the seven shortlisted books were read by broadcaster James Naughtie.  John Spurling was awarded with his cheque and an evocative coloured glass trophy commissioned from Lindean Glass, depicting the colours and landscapes of Sir Walter Scott’s Border country.

See the Winner press release 2015 final