Hannah Lynn has won the £20,000 UK Kindle Storyteller 2018 Award with her inspirational novel The Afterlife of Walter Augustus.
The book follows the character of Walter, who has been stuck for decades in the Interim — a posthumous waiting room for those still remembered on Earth — and Letty Ferguson, a middle-aged shoe saleswoman whose life takes on an extraordinary dimension when she takes possession of an unassuming poetry anthology.
Hannah Lynn says, “It’s an honour to have been chosen and winning the award has inspired me to keep writing and to enjoy it as much as possible. I’m not sure what I’ll spend the prize money on yet but I have promised my daughter I would buy her two Julia Donaldson books!”
The winning novel was announced at an award ceremony at the Royal Society in London and came from a shortlist of five authors selected based on a number of factors driven by customer interest in the titles, which covered a range of genres from fantasy to romance and non-fiction.
The panel of judges included journalist, author and TV personality Lorraine Kelly; best-selling author LJ Ross; author and founder of The Alliance of Independent Authors Orna Ross; and last year’s winner of the Kindle Storyteller Award David Leadbeater, alongside some of Amazon’s book experts.
As well as the £20,000 prize money, Hannah Lynn will also receive a marketing campaign to support the book on Amazon.co.uk, access to a mentor and the opportunity to have her book translated.
The Afterlife of Walter Augustus is Hannah Lynn’s second novel and she has her third planned for publication in October — Peas, Carrots and an Aston Martin, which is the first book in The Peas and Carrots series.
Lorraine Kelly says, “I was thrilled to be involved in the judging process of this year’s award, and I especially love that we were able to celebrate authors across a wide variety of genres. I hope Hannah’s win will inspire others to get writing.”
Claire Johnson, UK Kindle Content Director and one of the judges, says, “It was incredibly tough to decide on a winner, especially when the shortlist featured such brilliant talent. Hannah’s book was a heart-warming and clever tale that will make you laugh and cry. It really captured the judges’ imaginations.”
It is the second year of The Kindle Storyteller Award which aims to recognise newly published work in the English language across any genre. The prize was open to all authors who published their book through Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon.co.uk between May and August 2018.
Alessio Santarelli, EU Kindle Content Director, says, “This year we had thousands of entries from all over the world. From fantasy to fiction, politics to poetry, there was something for every reader.”
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