Guardian First Book Award

Guardian First Book Award, issued before 1999 as Guardian Fiction Prize or Guardian Fiction Award, is awarded to new writing in fiction and non-fiction.

1 History
2 Judging
3 Guardian Fiction Prize winners
4 Guardian First Book Award winners and shortlisted books
5 External links
6 Notes
7 Sources

History

Established in 1965 as the Guardian Fiction Award by The Guardian newspaper, the prize is worth £10,000 to the winner. In 1965 the prize money was 200 guineas (£210) and was awarded to a work of fiction by British or Commonwealth writer and published in the UK.

The shortlist is announced in November each year and the winner in December. The selection is made by a panel of critics and writers, chaired by the literary editor of the Guardian. This is the oldest and best-established of the awards sponsored by a newspaper. Sponsorship of a literary prize by one newspaper has a somewhat negative effect on publicity since other newspapers are less willing to publicize the winner. In 1999 the nature and title of the prize was altered to Guardian First Book Award, being no longer restricted to fiction. It is rewarded to the best new literary talent, whether working in the field of fiction or non-fiction, and across all genres.^[1]

Judging

The process begins with book reviewers from The Guardian recommending a certain number of first books they think worthy of the prize. The books with the most nominations make up the longlist. Then, through adverts placed in the Guardian newspaper, reading groups consisting of members of the general public are assembled. There are five of these groups, each one comprising eight people, and they meet at various Waterstone's bookshops throughout the UK. After roughly eight weekly meetings in which they discuss the books on the longlist, each group puts forward a list of their favourite books. The results are collated to produce a list of the five overall favourite books, which is the shortlist. A panel of celebrity judges then decides the winner.

Guardian Fiction Prize winners

1965 Clive Barry, Crumb Borne
1966 Archie Hind, The Dear Green Place
1967 Eva Figes, Winter Journey
1968 P. J. Kavanagh, A Song and a Dance
1969 Maurice Leitch, Poor Lazarus
1970 Margaret Blount, When Did You Last See your Father?
1971 Thomas Kilroy, The Big Chapel
1972 John Berger, G
1973 Peter Redgrove, In the Country of the Skin
1974 Beryl Bainbridge, The Bottle Factory Outing
1975 Sylvia Clayton, Friends and Romans
1976 Robert Nye, Falstaff
1977 Michael Moorcock, The Condition of Muzak
1978 Neil Jordan, Night in Tunisia
1979 Dambudzo Marechera, The House of Hunger
1980 J. L. Carr, A Month in the Country
1981 John Banville, Kepler
1982 Glyn Hughes, Where I Used to Play on the Green
1983 Graham Swift, Waterland
1984 J. G. Ballard, Empire of the Sun
1985 Peter Ackroyd, Hawksmoor
1986 Jim Crace, Continent
1987 Peter Benson, The Levels
1988 Lucy Ellmann, Sweet Desserts
1989 Carol Lake, Rosehill: Portrait from a Midlands City
1990 Pauline Melville, Shape-Shifter
1991 Alan Judd, The Devil's Own Work
1992 Alasdair Gray, Poor Things
1993 Pat Barker, The Eye in the Door
1994 Candia McWilliam, Debatable Land
1995 James Buchan, Heart's Journey in Winter
1996 Seamus Deane, Reading in the Dark
1997 Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces
1998 Jackie Kay, Trumpet