Chickenfeed wins Quick Reads award

On Wednesday, May 24, 2006, Minette was presented with the first 'Quick Reads Learners' Favourite' Award for her novella Chickenfeed. In the first two months of the Quick Reads scheme, the initiative has been hailed as the one of the most exciting developments in publishing for years, and Minette is thrilled that Chickenfeed was voted the readers' favourite.

The winner was decided by adult literacy groups around the country who read copies of all the books involved in the scheme. Chickenfeed was voted the best, and Minette was presented with her 'Quickie' at a ceremony at the Guardian Newsroom Archive and Visitor Centre in London, which was attended by representatives from the groups.

She said: "This will rank as one of my most treasured prizes because it was voted for by readers. It's particularly exciting to win when the rules of the scheme created a level playing field for the authors. We were all given the same brief and none of us knew there was an award on offer when we wrote our books."

Minette put her success down to her 20 years of prison visiting. "Illiteracy among inmates runs at around 50%, but IQ tests regularly show average or above average intelligence. I set out to write a book that recognized the intelligence of people who struggle to read but couched in language that would allow easy access to the novel."