Commonwealth Writers' Prize

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The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, organised and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation, is a leading award for fiction that was first awarded in 1987. The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental organisation working in the 53 countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. The aim of the Prize is to encourage new Commonwealth fiction, and to ensure that works of merit reach a wider audience outside their country of origin.

The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize is sponsored and administered by the Commonwealth Foundation with the support of the Macquarie Foundation in the Europe and South Asia and South East Asia and South Pacific regions. The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental body working to help civil society organisations promote democracy, development and cultural understanding in Commonwealth countries.

The Commonwealth Writers' Prize is established as a noted annual event in both the media and literary calendar. Since 2006, the regional sections of the Prize have been open for sponsorship and the Canada/ Caribbean and Africa regions are still seeking partners. It is established as a noted annual event in both the media and literary calendar. Last year, the CWP achieved a high level of exposure in both regional and international media. Over the past years media coverage has increased year-on-year and it is expected to continue to do so.

The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize is chaired by Justice Nicholas Hasluck, distinguished Australian author and leading judicial officer. Justice Hasluck has published ten works of fiction, including the award-winning novels The Bellarmine Jug and The Country Without Music.

Contents

[edit] Selection process

The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize covers the Commonwealth regions of Africa, Europe and South Asia, The Caribbean and Canada, and South East Asia and the South Pacific. Entries are first assessed by four regional panels of judges and the selection of the overall winner is made by a distinguished pan-Commonwealth panel. In each of the four regions of the Commonwealth two prizes of £1,000 are awarded: one for the Best Book and one for the Best First Book. The resulting eight regional winners’ books are then judged by the pan-Commonwealth panel. Authors win £10,000 for the overall Best Book and £5,000 for the Best First Book. Writers and judges come together in a final literary programme in a different Commonwealth country each year.

[edit] 2007 Regional Winners

The eight regional winners for the 2007 Prize were announced in March 2007. The eight regional winners are;

Best Book Best First Book
Africa The Native Commissioner
 – Shaun Johnson (South Africa), Penguin Books		 All We Have Left Unsaid
 – Maxine Case (South Africa), Kwela Books
Canada and the
Caribbean		 The Friends of Meager Fortune
 – David Adams Richards (Canada), Doubleday Canada		 Vandal Love
 – D. Y. Béchard (Canada), Doubleday
Europe and
South Asia		 The Perfect Man
 – Naeem Murr (UK), Heinemann		 In the Country of Men
 – Hisham Matar (UK), Viking
South East Asia and
South Pacific		 Mister Pip
 – Lloyd Jones (New Zealand), Penguin		 Tuvalu
 – Andrew O'Connor (Australia), Allen and Unwin

[edit] 2007 Final Programme and Overall Winners

Each year the final programme of the Prize takes place in a different country. It also rotates around the different Commonwealth regions. The final programme comprises the judging for the overall Prize by the pan-Commonwealth panel and a series of readings and other public events by the regional prize-winning writers, who are all invited to attend.

This year, the final programme was hosted in Jamaica from 20 to 27 May 2007 as part of and in partnership with the Calabash International Literary Festival. The two overall winners were announced at an awards ceremony on the final night of the Calabash Festival. In recent years, the final programme has also been held in Melbourne, Malta, Canada, Scotland, Ghana, and India.

The distinguished 2007 Pan-Commonwealth panel of judges was chaired by Hon Justice Nicholas Hasluck AM (Chair of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize), and comprised of the four regional chairpersons and Colin Channer, organiser and founder of the Calabash Festival. The four regional chairpersons were: Professor Arthur Gakwandi (Africa); Professor Aritha van Herk (Canada and the Caribbean); Professor Angela Smith (Europe and South Asia); and Dr Christine Prentice (South East Asia and South Pacific).

The 2007 Overall Winners are;

• Best Book: Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (New Zealand)

• Best First Book: Vandal Love by D.Y. Béchard (Canada)

[edit] Best Book Winners 1987-2008

[edit] Best First Book Winners 1987-2008

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b 2008 Winners announced
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