Guardian First Book Award
Template:Use dmy datesThe 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
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 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
| Year | Author | Title | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Script error: No such module "Sort". | We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families | Winner |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Lighthouse Stevensons | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Boxy an Star | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Ghostwritten | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | No Place Like Home | Finalist | |
| 2000 | Script error: No such module "Sort". | White Teeth | Winner |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | House of Leaves | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | No Logo | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Catfish and Mandala: a Vietnamese Odyssey | Finalist | |
| 2001 | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth | Winner |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Anthony Blunt: His Lives | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". and John Eidinow | Wittgenstein's Poker: The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Carter Beats the Devil | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist | |
| 2002 | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Everything Is Illuminated | Winner |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Mapping Mars | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist | |
| 2003 | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Mountains of the Mind | Winner |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Brick Lane | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Into the Silent Land | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Stasiland | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Vernon God Little | Finalist | |
| 2004 | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Mutants: On the Form, Varieties and Errors of Human Body | Winner |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Natasha and Other Stories | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Ground Water | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist | |
| 2005 | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Stuart: A Life Backwards | Winner |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | No god but God | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Sightseeing | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found | Finalist | |
| 2006 | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Winner |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Harbor | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Poppy Shakespeare | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | In the Country of Men | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living | Finalist | |
| 2007 | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Children of the Revolution | Winner |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Imperial Life in the Emerald City | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | God's Architect | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | What Was Lost | Finalist | |
| 2008 | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Winner |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Stalin's Children | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | God's Own Country | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist | |
| 2009 | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Winner |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist | |
| 2010 | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Romantic Moderns: English Writers, Artists and the Imagination from Virginia Woolf to John Piper | Winner |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Boxer, Beetle | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Your Presence is Requested at Suvanto | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Black Mamba Boy | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | In Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error | Finalist | |
| 2011 | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Winner |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Pigeon English | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Down The Rabbit Hole | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist | |
| 2012 | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Winner |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Sandstorm: Libya in the Time of Revolution | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma | Finalist | |
| 2013 | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Winner |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | We Need New Names | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Sex and the Citadel | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Burial Rites | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Kiss Me First | Finalist | |
| 2014 | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Young Skins | Winner |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Do No Harm | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | The Night Guest | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Age of Ambition | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Things to Make and Break | Finalist | |
| 2015 | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Physical | Winner |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Man v Nature | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Grief Is the Thing with Feathers | Finalist | |
| Script error: No such module "Sort". | Script error: No such module "Sort". | Finalist |
See also
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- Guardian Children's Fiction Prize
- Orange Award for New Writers
- The Whitfield Prize
- Guardian Fiction Prize
- Vanguard Personality of the Year Awards
References
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- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Fiachra Gibbons, "Readers pick top Guardian books", The Guardian, 6 November 1999. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
- ↑ "Enter the Guardian first book award 2013". The Guardian, 16 April 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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- Annual home pages for the First Book Award, 1999 to present
- Guardian First Book Award 1999
- Guardian First Book Award 2000
- Guardian First Book Award 2001
- Guardian First Book Award 2002
- Guardian First Book award 2003
- Guardian First Book Award 2004
- Guardian First Book Award 2005
- Guardian First Book Award 2006
- Guardian First Book Award 2007
- Guardian First Book award 2008
- Guardian First Book award 2009
- Guardian First Book award 2010
- Guardian First Book award 2011
- Guardian First Book award 2012
- Guardian First Book award 2013
- Guardian First Book award 2014
- Guardian First Book award 2015