Guardian First Book Award

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The Guardian First Book Award was a literary award presented by The Guardian newspaper. It annually recognised one book by a new writer. It was established in 1999, replacing the Guardian Fiction Award or Guardian Fiction Prize that the newspaper had sponsored from 1965.[1] The Guardian First Book Award was discontinued in 2016, with the 2015 awards being the last.[2]

History[edit]

The newspaper determined to change its book award after 1998, and during that year also hired Claire Armitstead as literary editor. At the inaugural First Book Award ceremony in 1999, she said that she was informed of the change, details to be arranged, by the head of the marketing department during her second week on the job. "By the time we left the room we had decided on two key things. We would make it a first book award, and we would involve reading groups in the judging process. This was going to be the people's prize."[1] About the opening of the prize to nonfiction she had said in August, "readers do not segregate their reading into fiction or non-fiction, so neither should we."[3] There was no restriction on genre; for example, both poetry and travel would be included in principle,[1] and so would self-published autobiographies.[3]

For the first rendition, 140 books were submitted, including a lot of nonfiction strongest "by far" in "a hybrid of travel-writing and reportage"; weak in science and biography. Experts led by Armitstead selected a longlist of 11 and Borders book stores in Glasgow, London, Brighton and Leeds hosted reading groups that considered one book a week, September to November, and selected a shortlist of six. A panel of eight judges including two Guardian editors chose the winner.[3] The newspaper called it "the first time the ordinary reading public have been involved in the selection of a major literary prize." In the event, the 1999 reading groups selected a shortlist including six novels, and all four groups favoured the novel Ghostwritten by David Mitchell. Their second favourite was one of the travelogue and reporting hybrids, by Philip Gourevitch of The New Yorker.[4] The judges chose the latter, We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families —"a horrifying but humane account of the Rwandan genocide, its causes and consequences", the newspaper called it in August.[3]

The prize was worth £10,000 to the winner. Eligible titles were published in English, and in the UK within the calendar year.[5]

Winners and finalists[edit]

Guardian First Book Award winners and finalists, 2010-2019[6]
Year Author Title Result
1999 Philip Gourevitch We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families Winner
Bella Bathurst Lighthouse Stevensons Finalist
Raj Kamal Jha The Blue Bedspread Finalist
Daren King Boxy an Star Finalist
David Mitchell Ghostwritten Finalist
Gary Younge No Place Like Home Finalist
2000 Zadie Smith White Teeth Winner
Mark Z. Danielewski House of Leaves Finalist
Dave Eggers A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Finalist
Naomi Klein No Logo Finalist
Andrew X. Pham Catfish and Mandala: a Vietnamese Odyssey Finalist
2001 Chris Ware Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth Winner
Miranda Carter Anthony Blunt: His Lives Finalist
David Edmonds and John Eidinow Wittgenstein's Poker: The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers Finalist
Glen David Gold Carter Beats The Devil Finalist
Rachel Seiffert The Dark Room Finalist
2002 Jonathan Safran Foer Everything Is Illuminated Winner
Alexandra Fuller Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight Finalist
Hari Kunzru The Impressionist Finalist
Oliver Morton Mapping Mars Finalist
Sandra Newman The Only Good Thing Anyone Has Ever Done Finalist
2003 Robert Macfarlane Mountains of the Mind Winner
Monica Ali Brick Lane Finalist
Paul Broks Into the Silent Land Finalist
Anna Funder Stasiland Finalist
DBC Pierre Vernon God Little Finalist
2004 Armand Marie Leroi Mutants: On the Form, Varieties and Errors of Human Body Winner
David Bezmozgis Natasha and Other Stories Finalist
Susanna Clarke Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Finalist
Matthew Hollis Ground Water Finalist
Rory Stewart The Places in Between Finalist
2005 Alexander Masters Stuart: A Life Backwards Winner
Reza Aslan No god but God Finalist
Richard Benson The Farm Finalist
Rattawut Lapcharoensap Sightseeing Finalist
Suketu Mehta Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found Finalist
2006 Yiyun Li A Thousand Years of Good Prayers Winner
Lorraine Adams Harbor Finalist
Clare Allan Poppy Shakespeare Finalist
Hisham Matar In the Country of Men Finalist
Carrie Tiffany Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living Finalist
2007 Dinaw Mengestu Children of the Revolution Winner
Tahmima Anam A Golden Age Finalist
Rajiv Chandrasekaran Imperial Life in the Emerald City Finalist
Rosemary Hill God's Architect Finalist
Catherine O'Flynn What Was Lost Finalist
2008 Alex Ross The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the 20th Century Winner
Mohammed Hanif A Case of Exploding Mangoes Finalist
Owen Matthews Stalin's Children Finalist
Ross Raisin God's Own Country Finalist
Steve Toltz A Fraction of the Whole Finalist
2009 Petina Gappah An Elegy for Easterly Winner
Eleanor Catton The Rehearsal Finalist
Samantha Harvey The Wilderness Finalist
Reif Larsen The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet Finalist
Michael Peel A Swamp Full of Dollars Finalist
2010 Alexandra Harris Romantic Moderns: English Writers, Artists and the Imagination from Virginia Woolf to John Piper Winner
Ned Beauman Boxer, Beetle Finalist
Maile Chapman Your Presence is Requested at Suvanto Finalist
Nadifa Mohamed Black Mamba Boy Finalist
Kathryn Schulz In Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error Finalist
2011 Siddhartha Mukherjee The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer Winner
Stephen Kelman Pigeon English Finalist
Juan Pablo Villalobos Down The Rabbit Hole Finalist
Mirza Waheed The Collaborator Finalist
Amy Waldman The Submission Finalist
2012 Kevin Powers The Yellow Birds Winner
Katherine Boo Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity Finalist
Chad Harbach The Art of Fielding Finalist
Lindsey Hilsum Sandstorm: Libya in the Time of Revolution Finalist
Kerry Hudson Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma Finalist
2013 Donal Ryan The Spinning Heart Winner
NoViolet Bulawayo We Need New Names Finalist
Shereen El Feki Sex and the Citadel Finalist
Hannah Kent Burial Rites Finalist
Lottie Moggach Kiss Me First Finalist
2014 Colin Barrett Young Skins Winner
Henry Marsh Do No Harm Finalist
Fiona McFarlane The Night Guest Finalist
Evan Osnos Age of Ambition Finalist
May-Lan Tan Things to Make and Break Finalist
2015 Andrew McMillan Physical Winner
Diane Cook Man v Nature Finalist
Chigozie Obioma The Fishermen Finalist
Peter Pomerantsev Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible Finalist
Max Porter Grief Is the Thing With Feathers Finalist
Sara Taylor The Shore Finalist

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Claire Armitstead on the First Book Award: Guardian literary editor's speech from the ceremony". The Guardian, 2 December 1999. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
  2. ^ Claire Armitstead (7 April 2016). "Saying goodbye to the Guardian first book award". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d Claire Armitstead, "Judges Poised as First-time Authors Excel: Travel books with bite make up the strongest entry in the Guardian's new book award - but where did all the science writers go?", The Guardian, 27 August 1999. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  4. ^ Fiachra Gibbons, "Readers pick top Guardian books", The Guardian, 6 November 1999. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  5. ^ "Enter the Guardian first book award 2013". The Guardian, 16 April 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  6. ^ "Guardian first book award: all the winners". The Guardian. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
Annual home pages for the First Book Award, 1999 to present

External links[edit]