Nam Le was recently awarded the second biennial Dylan Thomas Prize for his debut short story collection, The Boat (Knopf). Le, who was born in Vietnam, raised in Australia, and resides in New York City, received £60,000 (approximately $93,226).
"In Nam Le, I am confident we have found a winner worthy of Dylan Thomas," said Peter Florence, chair of the judges, at the prize ceremony held last night in Thomas's hometown of Swansea, Wales. "His outstanding work demonstrated a rare brilliance that is breathtaking both in the scope of its subject matter and the quality of its writing."
Of Le's globe-spanning stories, which are set in such far-flung locales as Colombia, Tehran, Iowa City, and a boat on the South China Sea, Florence said, "Nam tackles his own background and circumstances as well as that of others with a clear eye, focused intelligence and wonderful use of words."
The international award, sponsored by the University of Wales, is given to a writer under the age of thirty to honor a work in any genre published in English. The winner of the inaugural award in 2006 was Welsh author Rachel Trezise for her short story collection Fresh Apples (Parthian Books, 2006).
