Ian Collins' Blythe Spirit covers the life and times of acclaimed writer Ronald Blythe - whose most famous work inspired the film Akenfield about life in a fictional Suffolk village.

Akenfield depicted the fast-vanishing rural world in which the author grew up and was made into a film by director Sir Peter Hall.

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The biography has just scooped the biennial New Angle Prize for Literature which is given for a work in any genre published in the last two years and set in or influenced by the region of East Anglia.

The cover of Blythe Spirit by Ian Collins(Image: Ian Collins)

Ian - who lives in Southwold - was also awarded £3k in prize money.

"It's a fantastic prize for writers connected with East Anglia and it's a huge honour to win it," he said.

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"It could not be more appropriate because I live in Suffolk but Ronald Blythe his life was the history of Suffolk.

"He lived for 100 years and what he saw covered the whole history of Suffolk and it's a story that isn't really told enough."

The eldest of six children, Ronald - who grew up in Acton, Sudbury - shared a........

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