MA graduate Ever Dundas wins Saltire Society First Book Award - Goblin gets republished!

Ever Dundas • photo by Graham Clark

It's been an amazing week for Edinburgh Napier MA Creative Writing graduate Ever Dundas: she won the prestigious Saltire Society First Book of the Year Award for her debut and, six days later, the prize-winning novel Goblin was republished by Saraband Books.

'For every world-be writer it is fantastic simply to get your book published,' Ever says. 'But for it to also win a major literary award... it's an absolute dream.'

'Writing may seem like a solo effort, but it takes a lot of people for a book to come together,' Ever says. 'Thanks to everyone who's helped - family and friends, my agent and publishers, fellow writers and inspirational artists. Goblin wouldn't be here without you.'

Ever started work on Goblin while a part-time student on the Creative Writing programme at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland. Indeed, it was her Major Project on the MA, the creative capstone of all her endeavours with us.

She paid a special tribute to the Edinburgh Napier MA on Twitter not long after winning her award: 'I couldn't have done it without the support, guidance, expertise, and raised eyebrows of doom of @davidbishop and @SamBoyceEditor.'

The novel was originally published by Freight in May but escaped that company's demise to be reborn by Saraband Books - just in time for Christmas. Publisher Sara Hunt is full of praise for the book and its author.

'Ever ... so richly deserves this award. The book itself has echoes of Jeanette Winterson and Angela Carter: it is a superb piece of writing. In Goblin, Ever has created a character to die for.'

The Guardian newspaper made the novel its Book of the Day on Wednesday, with reviewer Peter Ross describing it as a terrific debut full of reckless joy:

It is a celebration of freakery, of creating one’s own family; a meditation on trauma and loss and abandonment (in both senses of that word) which, somehow, is never bleak.

The MA programme team couldn't be prouder of Ever's achievement. Like all good writers, she's already hard at work on her next narrative, Hell Sans. We can't wait to read what she writes next!