‘Deeply Touching’ Exploration of Homelessness Wins Anne Brown Prize

The judges, novelist and memoirist Ali Millar and the festival’s artistic director, Adrian Turpin, praised Firle as a beautifully crafted essay that gets to the heart of what it’s like for those unable to escape an endless round of homelessness and sub-standard accommodation.

Elegantly witty, touching, deeply serious

Adrian said: “Tamara’s work drops the reader into a world where the modest dream of having somewhere decent to live is impossible, a fantasy.“You feel what she and her friends feel as they face years, decades, even lifetimes of being ground down bad conditions, and worse landlords. 

“And even if they happen to find somewhere decent to rent, there’s the sadness that it’s always insecure, all too often being forced to move on.

“Firle is a worthy winner. It’s an elegantly witty, touching, deeply serious and personal look at the rural housing crisis that builds to a single explosion of frustration. 

“It combines directness and pace with a lightness of touch that make it a compelling read, and one that will ring true for vast numbers of people.

”Born in London in 1977 and subsequently raised by her grandmother in Kent, Tamara studied ancient history at the University of Edinburgh. She said: “This is an incredible honour and it means so much to have a conversation about Scotland’s rural housing crisis platformed in the prestigious and meaningful context of the Anne Brown Essay Prize. 

“The prize and Wigtown Book Festival are an inspiration to me and countless other writers and readers and I am delighted to be part of the festival story this year.”

Both human and humane

The ceremony was among the highlights of the first weekend of the 10-day Wigtown Book Festival, taking place in Scotland’s National Book Town until 5 October. The Anne Brown Essay Prize for Scotland commemorates Anne Brown (1942-2021), former chair of Wigtown Book Festival, who was also a BBC radio journalist and senior producer. It is made possible thanks to the generous support of Anne Brown’s daughter Jo Lawrence and her son Richard Brown.

Jo, who attended the event, said: “My Mum would have loved this essay – in fact it reminds me of the way she wrote. The descriptiveness, the ability to get to the heart of an issue and bring it to life in such a moving way, is just fantastic. It is both human and humane, I loved it.”

This year’s shortlist reflected a wide range of authors tackling subjects including Scotland’s Christian heritage, new motherhood and absent fathers. The other finalists were:

• A Letter from my Father - Alison Craig
• Am I Missing Something - Robert Dawson Scott
• Taps - Meghan Flaherty
• Lepanto - Dani Garavelli
• The Stone Is Heavy in My Hand - Kristie de Garis
• Tender Omens - Saskia McCracken
• In Search of Tove Janssen in Helsinki - Christiana Spens.

Established and emerging talents

The list features established and emerging talents from the worlds of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and journalism. This year’s winner and shortlisted essays will be published on the Wigtown Book Festival website.

• The prize celebrates the best recent literary essay by a writer in, from or with a long-standing connection to Scotland.
• It rewards precise writing, original thinking, curiosity and creative approaches to non-fiction.
• Entries can be on any subject.
• The maximum length is 4,000 words.

Previous winners are Sarah Whiteside, Rodge Glass and Dani Garavelli.