The Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses 2024 Shortlist

We are beyond pleased to finally share the five books shortlisted for this year’s RofC Prize. They are listed below, alphabetically by publisher.

To read the full shortlist announcement, (as well as consistent small press news + general musings) visit our Substack.

The winner event will be held at foyles, charing cross road on april 17, 2024!

Thank you to every press that made a submission and to our brilliant judges, Declan O’Driscoll, Sana Goyal, and Rebecca Abrams.

“God’s the one with the ideas, people just live through them…”

The story follows four generations of female characters as they navigate the hardships of life in the parched landscape of the Brazilian sertão. Male figures are peripheral, but are also revealed as the origin of much of the suffering in the novel, generating for the women a kind of exile not only in relation to the land but to their sense of self. This is a ground-breaking feminist work, a bracing modernist fable, of sorts.

Our judges said: “A vivid, mesmerising multigenerational novel, which tackles brutality and violence within familial relationships with tact. A very impressive book.”

When seven-year-old Jedza witnesses a tragic incident involving a train and the death of his close boyhood friend in his hometown Miner’s Drift, he is convinced that his life is haunted. Now in his mid-20s, Jedza is a down-and-out electrician, moving to Harare in the hopes that he will escape the darkness and superstitions of the small town. But living in the Avenues, he is tormented by the disappearance of his sister and their early encounters with ancestral spirits, the shapeshifting power of the njuzu and a vengeful ngozi. To move forward, he must stop running away and confront the trauma of his past.

Our judges said: “An assured debut. It addresses the objective truth of these lives but also deftly conveys the character's subjective understanding of the forces that influence their fate.”

In a landscape worthy of Cormac McCarthy, the river runs septic with blood. Edgar Wilson makes the sign of the cross on the forehead of a cow, then stuns it with a mallet. It’s important to calm the cows, especially now that they seem so unsettled. Bronco Gil, the foreman, thinks it’s a jaguar or a wild boar. Edgar Wilson has other suspicions. But what is certain is that there is something in this desolate corner of Brazil driving men, and animals, to murder and madness.

Our judges said: “A stunning thriller of sorts. So understated. So powerful. So heartbreaking. Worked for me completely on both the level of a human story and as a warning parable for our times.“

The 100 tales in The Zekameron are based on the 14th century Decameron, but Znak is closer to Beckett than to Boccaccio. Banality and brutality vie with the human ability to overcome oppression. Znak's stories in different voices chart 100 days in prison in Belarus today. The tone is laconic, ironic; the humour dry. The stories bear witness to resistance and self-assertion and the genuine warmth and appreciation of fellow prisoners. Znak wrote these stories from within prison, and they later found their way outside the prison walls.

Our judges said: “Deceptively light touch to these powerful stories by imprisoned Belarusian lawyer and activist. A truly important book.”

In 1930s Japanese-occupied Korea, Lee Woo-Cheol was a running prodigy and a contender for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. But he would have had to run under the Japanese flag. Nearly a century later, his granddaughter, living in Japan, is training to run a marathon herself. immersing herself into the painful histories of her family and the Korean and Japanese communities of Miryang, Korea. The End of August is a semi-autobiographical investigation into nationhood and family - what you are born into and what is imposed. Through a meditative dance of generations, Yu Miri moves across borders and time, shedding light onto the experiences of Japan’s Zainichi (second- and third- generation Korean) communities.

Our judges said: “Ambitious in scope and execution. Amazingly well-sustained, multi-layered, many-voiced novel. A joy to read.”

Here is what our judges have to say about this year’s prize:

If you missed the longlist announcement, you can find it here.

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