I remember when I was a judge of an earlier Best of Young British selection. The most pleasant part of the job was feeling the shock of discovery. You open a book by a writer you’ve never heard of and a new voice leaps off the page and makes you listen. The real thing: it declares itself instantly and all you can do is surrender, happily, to its power. I read this piece without knowing its title or the writer’s name (both Top Secret at the time) but the talent couldn’t be redacted. There it is on every page, strong, fresh and true. I look forward to reading more.

Photograph © Nadav Kander