The Writers' Prize Explained

The Writers' Prize
Awarded For:Literature published in the UK
Sponsor:The Folio Society (2014–2015), Rathbone Investment Management (2017–2023)
Year2:Active

The Writers' Prize, previously known as the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Folio Prize and The Literature Prize, is a literary award that was sponsored by the London-based publisher The Folio Society for its first two years, 2014–2015.[1] [2] Starting in 2017, the sponsor was Rathbone Investment Management. At the 2023 award ceremony, it was announced that the prize was looking for new sponsorship as Rathbones would be ending their support.[3] In November 2023, having failed to secure a replacement sponsor, the award's governing body announced its rebrand as The Writers' Prize.[4] [5]

History of the prize

The prize came into being after a group in Britain "took umbrage at the direction they saw the Booker Prize taking – they saw it leaning toward popular fiction rather than literary fiction."[6] It was described as "complementary to other awards" and "Booker without the bow ties".[7] Margaret Atwood said that the Folio Prize is "much needed in a world in which money is increasingly becoming the measure of all things." Mark Haddon said it was "not a mechanism for generating publicity by propelling a single book into the spotlight but a celebration of literary fiction as a whole."[8] The co-founders are Andrew Kidd and Kate Harvey.[9] The prize is administered by the registered charity The Literature Prize Foundation.[10]

The Folio Prize during the first two years was presented to an English-language book of fiction published in the UK by an author from any country. Prior to its launch it was called the "Literature Prize" as a placeholder until a sponsor was found; then renamed the Folio Prize in 2014, for the Folio Society, a publisher of special editions of classic literature.[11] The prize remuneration in the first two years was £40,000. For 2017 and 2018 the prize amount was £20,000 and starting in 2019 it was increased to £30,000.[12] In 2021, it was reported that the £30,000 prize money had been paid to cyber-criminals posing as 2020 winner Valeria Luiselli.[13]

Beginning with the 2017 Rathbones sponsorship, the prize was awarded to the best new work of literature published in the English language during a given year, regardless of form (fiction, non-fiction and poetry).[14] [15] The Rathbones sponsorship supports a number of initiatives generated out of The Folio Academy, the group of writers who form the Prize's de facto governing body. Initiatives include a new academy mentorship scheme, in association with the charity First Story, which will mentor aspiring young writers, as well as a series of Rathbones Folio Sessions throughout the year in the form of literary workshops, lectures and debates.[16]

The jury for the prize is called the academy, a body of more than 250 writers and critics that includes Margaret Atwood, Peter Carey, A. S. Byatt, Zadie Smith and J. M. Coetzee. Books are nominated by members of the academy, three each, ranked. Points are given to each book depending on how many first, second or third rankings are earned. The top scoring books are made into a longlist of 60 books (80 in the first two years), and the judges can "call in" another 20 books from their publishers. The list of 80 nominated titles is then judged by a panel of three to five judges drawn from the academy who select a shortlist (of eight titles, up to 2022) and the final winner.[17] In 2024 there were no judges, and all 350 academy members were invited to vote for the winners.[18]

In 2023, three shortlists of five titles each were introduced, in the genres of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, although the prize constitution[19] and website[20] state that the shortlists will contain four titles, as did some newspaper reports.[21] The winner of each genre will receive a prize of £2,000 and the genre winners will be judged for the overall Folio Prize.[22] In 2024, the three shortlists were reduced to three titles in each category as it transitioned to become The Writers' Prize.

In November 2023, having failed to secure a replacement sponsor, the award announced its rebrand as The Writers' Prize. According to its website, The Writers' Prize continues to be "nominated and judged exclusively by the Folio Academy".

Recipients

Note that the prize had the following titles:

YearAuthorTitleResultRef.
2014Winner[23] [24] [25]
BenedictionShortlist[26] [27] [28]
Last Friends
Red Doc
Schroder
2015Family LifeWinner[29]
Shortlist[30]
All My Puny Sorrows
Dept. of Speculation
Dust
How to Be Both
Nora Webster
Outline
2016No prize awarded[31]
2017Winner[32] [33]
and Leila Al-ShamiBurning Country: Syrians in Revolution and WarShortlist[34]
Do Not Say We Have Nothing
Golden Hill
This Census-Taker
2018Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan's Disaster ZoneWinner[35] [36]
Anything Is PossibleShortlist[37] [38]
Conversations With Friends
Exit West
Once Upon a Time in the East: A Story of Growing Up
Reservoir 13
White Tears
2019Winner[39] [40]
Can You Tolerate This?Shortlist[41]
Mary Ann Sate, Imbecile
Milkman
Ordinary People
There There
West
2020Lost Children ArchiveWinner[42] [43] [44]
ConstellationsShortlist[45]
Grand Union
Guest House for Young Widows
On Chapel Sands
Vertigo & Ghost
Victory
2021In the Dream HouseWinner[46]
As You WereShortlist[47] [48]
handiwork
Indelicacy
My Darling from the Lions
Poor
2022Winner[49] [50]
Albert & the WhaleShortlist[51]
Assembly
China Room
Men Who Feed Pigeons
My Phantoms
Small Things Like These
2023Constructing a Nervous SystemOverall winner
Non-fiction winner
Non-fiction shortlist[52]
In Love
Scary MonstersFiction winner
GloryFiction shortlist [53]
Pure Colour
Emergency
Lucy by the Sea
QuietPoetry winner
Ephemeron Poetry shortlist
Cane, Corn & Gully
England's Green
Manorism
2024Thunderclap: A Memoir of Life and Art and Sudden DeathNon-fiction winner[54]
Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror WorldNonfiction shortlist[55] [56]
Fiction winner
Fiction shortlist
Overall winner
Poetry winner
Self-Portrait as OthelloPoetry shortlist
Bright Fear

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Folio Society drops prize sponsorship. 18 May 2015. The Bookseller. Sarah . Shaffi. 22 May 2015.
  2. News: 2015-05-19 . Folio Society ends sponsorship of Folio prize . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  3. News: Shaffi . Sarah . 2023-03-27 . Margo Jefferson wins 2023 Rathbones Folio prize . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  4. Web site: Wood . Heloise . 2023-11-23 . Folio Prize to retain £36k prize pot as it transitions to 'Writers Prize' for 2024 . 2024-01-11 . The Bookseller . En.
  5. Web site: 2023-11-23 . The 2024 Writers' Prize . 2024-01-11 . The Writers Prize . en-GB.
  6. Web site: Jacket Copy: Literature Prize launches as $60,000 Folio Prize . . Carolyn. Kellogg . 13 March 2013 . 14 March 2013.
  7. Web site: New literary award The Folio Prize launches as 'Booker without the bow ties' . . Nick . Clark . 13 March 2013 . 14 March 2013.
  8. Web site: New kid on the block: Folio Prize aims to challenge the Booker as UK’s leading literary award . https://web.archive.org/web/20190130110229/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/new-kid-on-the-block-folio-prize-aims-to-challenge-the-booker-as-uks-leading-literary-award/2013/03/13/07a8a9be-8c13-11e2-af15-99809eaba6cb_story.html . dead . 30 January 2019 . . Jill . Lawless . 13 March 2013 . 14 March 2013.
  9. Web site: Mentorship . Folio Prize . 29 January 2019.
  10. Web site: The Literature Prize Foundation . The Writers' Prize . 12 January 2024.
  11. News: Brown . Mark . correspondent . arts . 2013-03-13 . Folio Society named as sponsor of fiction prize to rival Booker . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  12. Web site: Rathbones Folio Prize increases prize money to £30,000 . rathbonesfolioprize.com . 7 February 2019 . 2 April 2019.
  13. News: Cain . Sian . 2021-04-15 . Rathbones Folio prize paid £30,000 to scammers posing as the winner . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  14. Web site: 2017 Folio Prize to include non-fiction . Benedicte . Page . The Bookseller . 21 October 2016. 14 December 2016.
  15. News: Flood . Alison . 2016-10-24 . Folio prize 2017 widens scope to judge fiction alongside non-fiction . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  16. Web site: Investment company Rathbones to sponsor Folio Prize . Benedicte . Page. The Bookseller . 13 December 2014. 14 December 2016.
  17. Web site: The Literature Prize becomes The Folio Prize as its sponsor is revealed. Capon. Felicity. 14 March 2013. The Daily Telegraph. 14 March 2013.
  18. News: Knight . Lucy . 2024-01-09 . Zadie Smith and Paul Murray on shortlist for Writers’ prize . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  19. Web site: The Rathbones-Folio Prize [constitution] ]. 6 March 2023 . 23 September 2022.
  20. Web site: About The Rathbones Folio Prize . 6 March 2023 . Each category winner, selected from a shortlist of four, ....
  21. News: Shaffi . Sarah . 2022-07-26 . Rathbones Folio prize ‘refreshing format’ to expand to three categories . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  22. Web site: 2023-02-01 . De Kretser shortlisted for 2023 Folio Prize . 2023-02-01 . Books+Publishing . en-AU.
  23. Web site: Ron Charles . Ron Charles (critic) . 10 March 2014 . George Saunders wins $67,000 for first Folio Prize . 11 March 2014 . Washington Post.
  24. Web site: 10 March 2014 . Tenth of December by George Saunders wins inaugural Folio Prize 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140311235715/http://www.thefolioprize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/The-Folio-Prize-winner-announcement-1.pdf . 11 March 2014 . 11 March 2014 . Folio Prize.
  25. News: Brown . Mark . correspondent . arts . 2014-03-10 . George Saunders becomes first winner of UK's newest literary prize . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  26. Web site: 10 February 2014 . The 2014 Folio Prize Shortlist is Announced . 13 February 2014 . Folio Prize.
  27. Web site: Wood . Gaby . 10 February 2014 . Folio Prize 2013: The Americans are coming, but not the ones we were expecting . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140211061816/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10628622/Folio-Prize-2013-The-Americans-are-coming-but-not-the-ones-we-were-expecting.html . 11 February 2014 . 13 February 2014 . The Daily Telegraph.
  28. News: Flood . Alison . 2014-02-10 . Folio prize shortlist dominated by US authors . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  29. News: Brown . Mark . 2015-03-23 . Akhil Sharma wins Folio prize for fiction . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  30. News: Brown . Mark . 2015-02-09 . Folio prize shortlist shows literary novel is far from dead, says head judge . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  31. News: 2015-09-30 . The Folio Prize 'suspended' for 2016 . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  32. Web site: Goyal . Sana . 25 May 2017 . Hisham Matar’s memoir wins this year’s Rathbones Folio Prize . 25 May 2017 . Live Mint.
  33. News: Kean . Danuta . 2017-05-24 . Folio prize goes to Hisham Matar's memoir The Return . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  34. News: Cain . Sian . 2017-04-06 . Folio prize returns with nonfiction joining novels on the 2017 shortlist . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  35. Web site: 8 May 2018 . Announcing the Winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize 2018 . 9 May 2018 . Folio Prize.
  36. News: Cain . Sian . 2018-05-08 . Ghosts of the Tsunami wins Rathbones Folio prize for deeply felt reportage of 2011 disaster . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  37. Web site: 28 March 2018 . Rathbones Folio Shortlist 2018 . 31 March 2018 . Folio Prize.
  38. News: Cain . Sian . 2018-03-28 . Top authors make mass call on Man Booker to drop American writers . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  39. Web site: 20 May 2019 . The Winner of the 2019 Rathbones Folio Prize: Raymond Antrobus . 20 May 2019 . Folio Prize.
  40. News: Flood . Alison . 2019-05-20 . Raymond Antrobus becomes first poet to win Rathbones Folio prize . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  41. Web site: Anderson . Porter . 4 April 2019 . Rathbones Folio Prize Shortlist: Eight Works in Fiction and Nonfiction . 5 April 2019 . Publishing Perspectives.
  42. Web site: Robinson . Annabel . 2020-03-24 . Valeria Luiselli Wins 2020 Rathbones Folio Prize for, 'Singular, Teeming, Extraordinary' Lost Children Archive . 2020-04-01 . FMcM Associates . en-US.
  43. Web site: Cowdrey . Katherine . 2020-03-23 . Valeria Luiselli named first woman to win Rathbones Folio Prize . 2020-04-01 . The Bookseller.
  44. News: Flood . Alison . 2020-03-23 . Valeria Luiselli wins £30,000 Rathbones Folio prize for third novel . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  45. News: Flood . Alison . 2020-02-25 . Rathbones Folio prize: Zadie Smith makes female-dominated shortlist . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  46. News: Flood . Alison . March 24, 2021 . Carmen Maria Machado wins Rathbones Folio prize for queer abuse memoir . October 27, 2021 . The Guardian.
  47. News: Flood . Alison . 2021-02-10 . Monique Roffey leads strong showing for indies on Rathbones Folio shortlist . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  48. Web site: 2021-02-11 . Folio Prize 2021 shortlist announced . 2021-02-11 . Books+Publishing . en-AU.
  49. Web site: The Rathbones Folio Prize 2022 . Rathbones Folio Prize . 2 February 2023.
  50. News: Knight . Lucy . 2022-03-22 . Irish novelist Colm Tóibín wins Rathbones Folio prize for The Magician . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  51. News: Flood . Alison . 2022-02-09 . Damon Galgut and Colm Tóibín join ‘rich and large’ Rathbones Folio prize shortlist . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  52. Web site: 2023 Shortlist . The Rathbones Folio Prize . 2 February 2023.
  53. News: Shaffi . Sarah . 2023-01-31 . NoViolet Bulawayo and Margo Jefferson join ‘exciting’ Rathbones Folio prize shortlist . 2024-01-11 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  54. Heloise Wood. "Vintage scores hat-trick at The Writers' Prize with Liz Berry, Anne Enright and Laura Cumming all winners". The Bookseller, 13 Mar 2024.
  55. Web site: Wood . Heloise . 2024-01-09 . Smith, Murray and Klein shortlisted for £30k Writers' Prize following major relaunch . 2024-01-11 . The Bookseller . En.
  56. Web site: Anderson . Porter . 2024-01-09 . UK: The Writers' Prize, Formerly Rathbones, Shortlist . 2024-01-11 . Publishing Perspectives .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "The Writers' Prize".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.