The announcement of the second annual Windham Campbell literature prizes has brought shock and joy to eight authors around the world, with writers of fiction, essays and drama suddenly finding themselves $150,000 (£90,000) richer.
Selected by a prize jury from nominations assembled with the help of Yale University, the winning authors had no idea their work was under consideration for the award until organisers informed them of the award.
The Sierra Leonian-British novelist Aminatta Forna, cited by the panel for revealing "the ongoing aftershocks of living through violence and war", thought at first it was a prank.
"When the email with news of the award arrived I showed it to my husband, I said: 'It's a hoax, surely?' Well, it wasn't a hoax, rather it was just the best news," she said.
The Windham Campbell prize gives writers "what we most crave", she continued, "time to write, free from deadlines, financial pressures, the expectations of others".
The British novelist Jim Crace, shortlisted for last year's Booker prize and praised by the panel for "ever-varied novels" which transform "the indifferent and the repugnant alike into things of beauty", echoed Forna when he suggested the prize would give him the chance to follow a "rediscovered … passion for fiction", after beginning to doubt if he would write another novel.
"Stories are crowding in, demanding their space on the page," he said. "The Windham Campbell prize at Yale gives me the independence and the confidence to take on those stories, free from everyday pressures."
The Pakistani-born novelist Nadeem Aslam was the third winning novelist on the 2014 list, hailed by the panel for the "lyricism and compassion" of his "deftly crafted novels". Aslam will appear at a three-day New Haven literary festival in September alongside all eight winners, including two writers of non-fiction – the Indian chronicler of modern Asia Pankaj Mishra and the Canadian nature writer John Vaillant.
Three dramatists make up the rest of the winners, the American Kia Corthon, the Australian Noëlle Janaczewska and the youngest of the authors, the 31-year-old UK playwright Sam Holcroft, who declared she was "stunned, overwhelmed – and frankly slightly unhinged"
"Realising that I can put away the applications for temping jobs, and devote all my time to writing … it's genuinely life-changing and I'm indescribably grateful," she said. "I don't know if I can ever deserve or justify the faith shown in me by the Windham Campbell panel – but I certainly intend to try."
The winners
Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone)
Nadeem Aslam (Pakistan)
Jim Crace (UK)
Pankaj Mishra (India)
John Vaillant (Canada)
Kia Corthron (U.S.)
Sam Holcroft (UK)
Noëlle Janaczewska (Australia)
