Irish author Ferdia Lennon wins Waterstones debut fiction prize

Dubliner Ferdia Lennon has won this year’s Waterstones debut fiction prize for his “riotous, exuberant treat of a novel”, Glorious Exploits.

In awarding Lennon the prize, the booksellers said: "From the start, our booksellers fell in love with the immense humanity and humour of Lennon’s unique, profound and ferociously funny work that transports readers to the Sicily of 412 BCE and stages an extraordinary story of friendship, art and ambition against the backdrop of the Peloponnesian War".

The novel, which takes place in the aftermath of the  failed invasion of Sicily in 412 BC during the Peloponnesian War, took seven years to write.

Speaking to Hot Press, the author said that his debut "is about that compulsion we have towards stories, and more specifically, the dark stories, stories of tragedy, even in the most dire of circumstances".

Lennon was announced as the winner of the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize at a ceremony in the Waterstones’ Piccadilly branch in London on Thursday evening.

Born in Dublin to an Irish mother and a Libyan father, Lennon studied history and classics at University College Dublin and prose fiction at the University of East Anglia. He now lives in Norwich with his wife and son.

The Irish writer fended off competition in the form of Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, The Silence In Between by Josie Ferguson, Mongrel by Hanako Footman and Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly.

Lennon is the third winner of The Waterstones Prize since its inauguration in 2022.

Tess Gunty was the inaugural winner with The Rabbit Hutch. Last year, Alice Winn won the prize for her novel In Memoriam.