Mal Peet wins Guardian children's fiction prize
A version of Othello which casts the Moor of Venice as a South American football star wins Mal Peet the 2009 Guardian children's fiction prize
Alison Flood, guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 October 2009

A modern retelling of Othello, in which the Moor of Venice and his wife Desdemona are transformed into the South American equivalent of Posh and Becks, has won this year's Guardian children's fiction prize.

Mal Peet's Exposure beat authors including Terry Pratchett to win the £1,500 prize at tonight's awards ceremony. "It feels absolutely great – I've always had my eye on the Guardian prize but it's always evaded me," said Peet. "My books have never even made the shortlist before, and I'd always sit at home gnashing my teeth and tearing my hair."

Exposure entwines the stories of hotshot black footballer Otello and his popstar wife Desmerelda (Dezi), the subject of relentless coverage by celebrity magazines, and a group of desperately poor slum children.

Chair of judges and the Guardian's children's books editor Julia Eccleshare said that Peet "handles big themes with supreme confidence". "He is a very good storyteller who can create a rich and ambitious novel," she said, adding that Exposure "includes much wisdom on the whole issue of celebrity".

In Peet's version of Othello, the villainous Iago becomes Diego, Otello's agent. And the story's different strands are held together by sports journalist Paul Faustino, a regular in Peet's books who follows the story of Otello's transfer to club Rialto. The bones of Shakespeare's play jut through the text, which Peet has divided into five acts. "I did think about how certain key incidents could be translated," said Peet. "The bit in Othello the play, where Iago conspires to get Cassio drunk, I thought: 'How could I do that? Date-rape drugs in a bar could work.' I spent a lot of time translating the play, and when I had about six key scenes I started writing."

Read the full story at The Guardian online.