Rebecca Nesvet wins VPFA First Book Prize

Rebecca Nesvet (UW System Fellow, 2022-2023) has won the Victorian Popular Fiction Association’s First Book Prize for James Malcolm Rymer, Penny Fiction, and the Family. In praise of the book, the VPFA wrote the following:

“This book is at the centre of the recovery of the popular, and is highly original. It is based on deep research on penny fiction in original periodical publication and this is backed up with extensive biographical and contextual digging. The focus on Rymer’s preoccupation with the British working family as audience and subject matter is refreshing, as is the willingness to show Rymer was a relatively conservative author. There is a lot of new material presented in thoughtful ways, and there is a sophisticated politicised engagement with the popular. This is going to be the standard text on Rymer and his very influential fiction for a long time.”