Writer/artist Matthew Dooley’s “Flake” has won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comedic fiction. The British prize celebrates short comedy fiction in the style of P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster series. In winning the prize, Dooley has become the first ever entrant to win with a graphic novel.
“We had none of us, I think, expected a graphic novel to win,” said David Campbell, one of the judges. “But we were all captivated by ‘Flake.’”
The novel is set in the British country town of Dobbiston, where two ice cream men vie for the town’s ice cream needs. The comedic story follows Howard, and his half-brother in their competition to monopolize the ice cream market.
“[‘Flake’ is] a rare joy,” said judge Sindhu Vee. “A laugh out loud story with characters you want to meet again and again.”
Dooley previously won the 2016 Observer/Cape/Comica graphic short story prize and works in the education department of the House of Commons. He will be the 21st winner of the Wodehouse Prize, and his winnings include a bottle of champagne and a box set of Wodehouse books. In prior years he would have had a pig named after his winning work at the Hay festival in Wales, but due to current social distancing restrictions he simply made an illustration of what that moment would have been like instead.
“’Flake’ was published on 2 April, amidst a huge, bewildering global crisis,” said Dooley. “It’s been a very strange experience. Winning the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize means it’s just got stranger in the best possible way.”
The runner-ups were Jenny Offill’s Weather and Oisin Fagan’s Nobber.
