A TALENTED Warrington-born author has taken home more than just the winning book title at a prestigious awards ceremony.

Peter Gibbons was left ‘delighted’ after being awarded the ‘Kindles Storyteller of the Year’ award for his Viking novel ‘King Of War’, receiving a handsome prize of £20,000.

The Kindle Awards ceremony was held at the Houses of Parliament on Monday, October 24, with the award being presented to Peter by best-selling author and judge, Adam Kay.

Peter said: “I am absolutely delighted and honoured to have won this year's award.

“I have always dreamed of becoming an author, and I would like to thank Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing for opening the door and making that ambition a possibility.”

The former Great Sankey High student has written a saga of Viking adventure novels during his first year of being a published author, juggling working his full-time job in the process.

But since winning the award this week, the writer has made the exciting announcement that he has resigned from his day job to pursue a career in writing – a dream he has been ‘chasing’ his whole life.

“I will now be a full-time author which is brilliant,” he said.

“I celebrated the win with drinks at the event at the Houses of Parliament with the other shortlisted authors and a previous winner, and then the celebrations have carried on this week now that I have returned to Ireland.

“I will be back in Warrington this weekend to celebrate with my family and will also bring my two sons to a Liverpool match at Anfield, and I am so looking forward to that.”

Peter was nominated for the literary award after using Kindles self-publishing platform, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), to produce his first saga of action-packed Viking novels set back in 874AD.

The author not only won the large sum of money, but also a dedicated marketing campaign from Amazon to help his books excel even further.

He said: “I plan to spend the prize money on an office in my garden.

“It will be a garden room where I can do all of my writing in a professional environment now that I have turned writing into my full-time job.

“I would also like to say thanks to Jessica for the great article, and to the people back in Warrington for all of their good wishes and support."

The 2022 judging panel included guest judge and bestselling author Adam Kay, last year’s Kindle Storyteller winner Rachel McLean, best-selling author Mel Sherratt and many others.

Darren Hardy, author and editorial programmes manager at Amazon UK, said: “Submissions were incredibly strong again this year, and it was a delight to delve into the shortlisted books – from sapphic romance novels to tight suspenseful thrillers, and of course Peter’s Viking adventure.

“King of War had me hooked from the beginning, and I’m looking forward to following the Viking Blood and Blade Saga as it continues.

“It’s incredible to see such talent being supported by Kindle Direct Publishing, where authors take control of their publishing, deciding when and how they publish their books and earning great royalties on their sales.”

Peter has spoken highly of KDP as a great platform for any budding writers who hope to have their work published, explaining how the free service gives you free reign and creativity to produce the book you want.

“KDP allows everybody with a dream to publish their work for readers, and stories which otherwise would remain hidden in desk drawers or locked in our imaginations can find their way to kindle e readers and bedside tables across the world,” Peter said.