Glorious week for GLORIOUS EXPLOITS

What a week for Ferdia Lennon’s Glorious Exploits!

On Monday it was announced as the winner of 2024's Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for Comic Fiction, with the judges Roddy Doyle and Douglas Stuart respectively describing it as “a very special, very clever, very entertaining novel” and “bold and totally unexpected”, while Peter Florence, chair of the judges, called it “a delightful mash of contemporary Irish comedy and classical Athenian tragedy.”

© Laurie Fletcher

Ferdia said:

“I was stunned and utterly delighted to get the news. This is a prize I have followed for years, and so many books I love have won or been shortlisted for it. I’m truly honoured that the judges gave me the nod among such a brilliant shortlist.”

Then on Tuesday the shortlists were revealed for the 2024 Nero Book Awards, with Ferdia shortlisted in the Debut Fiction category.

Such glory, but Ferdia wears it lightly. As he said on being awarded, as part of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize, the right to name a pig after his book:

“For Samuel Beckett, the act of writing was the placing of stains on silence and nothingness. For me, it has always been more of a means to secure pig naming rights, so I am very pleased indeed.” 

You can catch him talking about his book on Radio Four's 'Loose Ends', this Saturday 7 December.