We're very pleased about this news from The Bookseller:

Novelists Jane Gardam and Eimear McBride are on the shortlist for the inaugural Folio Prize.

However the shortlist, revealed early today (10th February) after the embargo was broken on social media, is dominated by US authors.

Debut novelist Briton Eimear McBride's A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, which last autumn won the inaugural Goldsmith Prize, will go up against works including Last Friends, the third in the Old Filth trilogy by Yorkshire-born 85-year-old Jane Gardam. Gardam won the Whitbread Prize (now the Costa Prize) for best children's book in 1981 for The Hollow Land (Walker Books) and for best novel in 1991 for The Queen of the Tambourine.

Looks like we're one of only two representatives from Team Europe. That's pretty exciting. (And let it here be emphasised again that Eimear is from Ireland.) I'll paste our overjoyed press release below. But first a gif of a guy expressing our feelings. Well done Eimear! You rock!

Eimear McBride has joined seven other authors on the shortlist for the inaugural Folio Prize. She and Jane Gardam are the only European writers on a list dominated by North Americans and her book is one of only two debut novels.

Since its publication in June 2013 Eimear McBride's A Girl is a Half-formed Thing has earned huge critical acclaim. Drawing praise from writers as diverse as Colm Toibin, Jon McGregor and Anne Enright – who called it an "instant classic" – A Girl is a Half-formed Thing won the inaugural £10,000 Goldsmiths Prize in October 2013, and now, in February 2014, has been announced as one of the shortlisted titles for the stellar £40,000 Folio Prize.

This is quite something for a writer who took nine years to find a publisher (being turned down by almost all the mainstream London presses) and a book that was – literally – about to be subjected to the delete button when it found itself on the doorstep of the tiny independent, Galley Beggar Press.

Telling the story of a young woman's relationship with her brother, who is living with the after-effects of a brain tumour, A Girl is a Half-formed Thing is not so much a stream of consciousness as an unconscious railing against a life that makes little sense, and a shocking and intimate insight into the thoughts, feelings and sensual urges of vulnerable and isolated protagonist. To read A Girl is a Half-formed Thing is to plunge inside its narrator's head, experiencing her world first-hand. This isn't always comfortable – but it is always a revelation.

McBride writes with singular intensity, acute sensitivity and mordant wit. A Girl is a Half-formed Thing is moving, funny – and alarming. It is a book no one ever forgets.

Galley Beggar co-director Sam Jordison says: "We always knew that Eimear was wonderful and it's great to have that faith confirmed. As soon as we read Girl we were sure that it should be published, and that it would find readers. We were also certain that this book was very important. In fact, we saw printing is as a duty. We were prepared to go bankrupt in order to get it out there. Happily, Girl’s wonderful success makes that eventuality seem increasingly unlikely. We're also ecstatic that Eimear has been launched upon the world. This is the start of a very exciting career and we’re all very proud to be working with such an astonishing writer. I hope Eimear is going to be one of the most important writers of our generation. It's amazing to see her take off."

And fellow co-director Eloise Millar says: "One of the greatest pleasures in my work at Galley Beggar Press so far has been working through the proofs of A Girl is a Half-formed Thing with Eimear McBride. Sitting long into the night, turning each page alongside Eimear – ticking off each tiny adjustment and turn of phrase – I got to witness first-hand the final drafting of a novel that I truly believe will go on to be a classic, and the meticulous craft and absolute attention to detail of a woman who, with her debut, has proved herself as among the very best of contemporary writers. It's been nothing if not an honour, and here at Galley Beggar Press we are proud to be the champion of such a worthy novel."

Still reading? Thanks! The final things to say is that you can buy Girl in our store. We've got a few signed copies at the moment.