Marina Lewycka
When the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize was given out in 2005, there was pretty stiff competition for the winner of the comic prize, with favorites being such writers as Terry Pratchett and Malcolm Pryceat. Neither walked home with the prize though. Instead, it was given for the first time to a woman, Marina Lewycka. Lewycka's novel, which she wrote at age 58, was her first published novel.
Peter Florence, the director of the Hay literary festival which gives out the prize described her book: "It's a comic masterpiece, a stunning novel of considerable humanity, created with captivating humor and compassion. It's a real pleasure to read."
Not only that, but the novel was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and nominated for the Booker Prize.
Born in a German refugee camp at the end of World War II, Marina Lewycka's Urkainian parents raised her in England. She now teaches at Sheffield Hallam University and lives in Sheffield.
In addition to her novel, Lewycka has also written books on elder care.
