A quiet novel about night shifts wins the autumn prize — and a TV bidding war
Nia Adeyemi’s second book, set in a hospital laundry, took the judges in a 4–1 vote and then took Hollywood’s attention in a single afternoon.
Adeyemi wrote the book on a library computer after her own shifts. She said she had not thought about adaptations until her agent called to say two studios wanted a meeting that same day.
The prize citation praised “patience on the page” and a refusal to turn exhaustion into a speech. It is a short novel. Readers finish it on a commute and then, several judges admitted, start it again.
Adeyemi will not quit the hospital yet. “I like the people,” she said. “The book is about them remaining themselves at 4 a.m.”
