Portico Prize for Literature 2010 Nominees

The longlist of 21 books for the Portico Prize 2010 was announced this week. Judges included Dr Stella Butler, Ed Glinert and Val McDermid. They selected 10 fiction, 9 non-fiction and 2 poetry titles from the 103 volumes entered.

This is the only book prize exclusively for books about, or set mainly in, the North of England. Val McDermid said: "the longlist reflected those writers who understood the importance of place to underpin good fiction and this shone through with a great sense of vibrancy in Northern writing". The full longlist included a few mystery titles: 

Fiction:
Simon Armitage – Seeing Stars (Faber & Faber, 2010)
Nicola Barker – Burley Cross Postbox Theft (Fourth Estate, 2010)
Tony Bianchi – Bumping (Alcemi, 2010)
Matt Haig – The Radleys (Canongate Books, 2010)
Sarah Hall – How to Paint a Dead Man (Faber & Faber, 2009)
Joanne Harris – BlueEyedBoy (Transworld Publishers, 2010)
Reginald Hill – Midnight Fugue (Hapercollins, 2009)
M.J. Hyland – This Is How (Canongate Books, 2009)
Jude Morgan – A Taste of Sorrow (Headline Publishing, 2009)
Jacob Polley – Talk of the Town (Picador, 2010)
Tony Williams – The Corner of Arundel Lane & Charles Street (Salt Publishing, 2009)
Steve Wood – The Angels of Mona Terrace (Prio)

Read other category nominees HERE.