Wish I Was Here

Jackie Kay

Jackie Kay has been named the winner of Arts Council England's decibel writer of the year award at the Galaxy British Book Awards for her latest collection of stories,
Wish I Was Here.  

With Wish I Was Here, Jackie Kay's third work in prose, she beat off stiff competition in what was the most diverse shortlist to date.  Also competing for the award were authors John Agard for his collection of poetry We Brits , Kiran Desai for her Man Booker Prize-winning The Inheritance of Loss and Gautam Malkani for his debut novel, Londonstani .

The decibel Award, now in its third year, is given to the African, Asian or Caribbean writer who has made the greatest contribution towards, or had the most significant impact on, literature during the past year.  Decibel is an Arts Council England initiative to increase cultural diversity in the arts.

On discovering she was on the shortlist, Jackie Kay spoke of the importance of the decibel Award:

"As long as we live in an unequal society there will be the need for the Orange Prize and the decibel prize!  I think it is a particularly important prize this year on the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade”.