Claim: Up the Junction (1963), a series of short stories set in South London, was awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize (a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under) and was a controversial success at the time for its vibrant, realistic and non-judgmental portrait of its working-class protagonists.
Evidence: The book, awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, was a controversial success at the time for its vibrant, realistic and non-judgmental portrait of its working-class protagonists. The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize was a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama) by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kingdom. Dunn came to notice with the publication of Up the Junction (1963), a series of short stories set in South London, some of which had already appeared in the New Statesman.