The Writers' Prize
Awarded forLiterature published in the UK
Sponsored byThe Folio Society (2014–2015), Rathbone Investment Management (2017–2023)
Reward(s)£30,000
First awarded2014 (2014)
Last awardedActive
Websitethewritersprize.com

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.[3] At the 2023 award ceremony, it was announced that the prize was looking for new sponsorship as Rathbones would be ending their support.[4] In November 2023, having failed to secure a replacement sponsor, the award's governing body announced its rebrand as The Writers' Prize.[5][6]

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."[7] It was described as "complementary to other awards" and "Booker without the bow ties".[8] Margaret Atwood said that the Folio Prize is "much needed in a world in which money is increasingly becoming the measure of all things."[9] 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."[9] The co-founders are Andrew Kidd and Kate Harvey.[10] The prize is administered by the registered charity The Literature Prize Foundation.[11][12]

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.[7][13] 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.[14] In 2021, it was reported that the £30,000 prize money had been paid to cyber-criminals posing as 2020 winner Valeria Luiselli.[15]

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).[16][17] 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.[3]

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.[9][7][8][18] In 2024 there were no judges, and all 350 academy members were invited to vote for the winners.[19][5][6]

In 2023, three shortlists of five titles each were introduced, in the genres of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, although the prize constitution[20] and website[21] state that the shortlists will contain four titles, as did some newspaper reports.[22] The winner of each genre will receive a prize of £2,000[21] and the genre winners will be judged for the overall Folio Prize.[23] In 2024, the three shortlists were reduced to three titles in each category as it transitioned to become The Writers' Prize.[5]

In November 2023, having failed to secure a replacement sponsor, the award announced its rebrand as The Writers' Prize.[5][6] According to its website, The Writers' Prize continues to be "nominated and judged exclusively by the Folio Academy".

Recipients

Folio Prize
Year Author Title Result Ref.
2014 George Saunders Tenth of December: Stories Winner [24][25][26]
Kent Haruf Benediction Shortlist [27][28][29]
Rachel Kushner The Flamethrowers
Eimear McBride A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing
Jane Gardam Last Friends
Sergio De La Pava A Naked Singularity
Anne Carson Red Doc
Amity Gaige Schroder
2015 Akhil Sharma Family Life Winner [30]
Ben Lerner 10:04 Shortlist [31]
Miriam Toews All My Puny Sorrows
Jenny Offill Dept. of Speculation
Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor Dust
Ali Smith How to Be Both
Colm Tóibín Nora Webster
Rachel Cusk Outline
2016 No prize awarded[32]
Rathbones Folio Prize
Year Author Title Result Ref.
2014 Hisham Matar The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land In Between Winner [33][34]
Robin Yassin-Kassab and Leila Al-Shami Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War Shortlist [35]
Maggie Nelson The Argonauts
Madeleine Thien Do Not Say We Have Nothing
Francis Spufford Golden Hill
C. E. Morgan The Sport of Kings
China Miéville This Census-Taker
Laura Cumming The Vanishing Man: In Pursuit of Velazquez
2018 Richard Lloyd Parry Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan's Disaster Zone Winner [36][37]
Elizabeth Strout Anything Is Possible Shortlist [38][39]
Sally Rooney Conversations With Friends
Richard Beard The Day That Went Missing
Mohsin Hamid Exit West
Xiaolu Guo Once Upon a Time in the East: A Story of Growing Up
Jon McGregor Reservoir 13
Hari Kunzru White Tears
2019 Raymond Antrobus The Perseverance Winner [40][41]
Ashleigh Young Can You Tolerate This? Shortlist [42]
Guy Stagg The Crossway
Alice Jolly Mary Ann Sate, Imbecile
Anna Burns Milkman
Diana Evans Ordinary People
Tommy Orange There There
Carys Davies West
2020 Valeria Luiselli Lost Children Archive Winner [43][44][45]
Sinéad Gleeson Constellations Shortlist [46]
Zadie Smith Grand Union
Azadeh Moaveni Guest House for Young Widows
Laura Cumming On Chapel Sands
Ben Lerner The Topeka School
Fiona Benson Vertigo & Ghost
James Lasdun Victory
2021 Carmen Maria Machado In the Dream House Winner [47]
Elaine Feeney As You Were Shortlist [48]
Doireann Ní Ghríofa A Ghost in the Throat
Sara Baume handiwork
Amina Cain Indelicacy
Monique Roffey The Mermaid of Black Conch
Rachel Long My Darling from the Lions
Caleb Femi Poor
2022 Colm Tóibín The Magician Winner [49] [50]
Philip Hoare Albert & the Whale Shortlist [49][51]
Natasha Brown Assembly
Sunjeev Sahota China Room
Selima Hill Men Who Feed Pigeons
Gwendoline Riley My Phantoms
Damon Galgut The Promise
Claire Keegan Small Things Like These
2023 Margo Jefferson Constructing a Nervous System Overall winner
Non-fiction winner		 [4]
Will Ashon The Passengers Non-fiction shortlist [52]
Amy Bloom In Love
Jonathan Freedland The Escape Artist
Darren McGarvey The Social Distance Between Us
Michelle de Kretser Scary Monsters Fiction winner [4]
NoViolet Bulawayo Glory Fiction shortlist [52] [53]
Sheila Heti Pure Colour
Daisy Hildyard Emergency
Elizabeth Strout Lucy by the Sea
Victoria Adukwei Bulley Quiet Poetry winner [4]
Fiona Benson Ephemeron Poetry shortlist [52]
Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa Cane, Corn & Gully
Zaffar Kunial England's Green
Yomi Ṣode Manorism
The Writers' Prize
Year Author Title Result Ref.
2024
(Winners to be announced 13 March 2024)[54]		 Laura Cumming Thunderclap: A Memoir of Life and Art and Sudden Death Non-fiction shortlist [19][55][56]
Naomi Klein Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World
Mark O’Connell A Thread of Violence: A Story of Truth, Invention and Murder
Anne Enright The Wren, The Wren Fiction shortlist [19][55][56]
Paul Murray The Bee Sting
Zadie Smith The Fraud
Jason Allen-Paisant Self-Portrait as Othello Poetry shortlist [19][55][56]
Liz Berry The Home Child
Mary Jean Chan Bright Fear

References

  1. ↑ Shaffi, Sarah (18 May 2015). "Folio Society drops prize sponsorship". The Bookseller. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
  2. ↑ "Folio Society ends sponsorship of Folio prize". The Guardian. 19 May 2015. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  3. 1 2 Page, Benedicte (13 December 2014). "Investment company Rathbones to sponsor Folio Prize". The Bookseller. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Shaffi, Sarah (27 March 2023). "Margo Jefferson wins 2023 Rathbones Folio prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Wood, Heloise (23 November 2023). "Folio Prize to retain £36k prize pot as it transitions to 'Writers Prize' for 2024". The Bookseller. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 "The 2024 Writers' Prize". The Writers Prize. 23 November 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 Kellogg, Carolyn (13 March 2013). "Jacket Copy: Literature Prize launches as $60,000 Folio Prize". LA Times. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  8. 1 2 Clark, Nick (13 March 2013). "New literary award The Folio Prize launches as 'Booker without the bow ties'". The Independent. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  9. 1 2 3 Lawless, Jill (13 March 2013). "New kid on the block: Folio Prize aims to challenge the Booker as UK's leading literary award". Associated Press via the Washington Post. Archived from the original on 30 January 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  10. ↑ "Mentorship". Folio Prize. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  11. ↑ "The Literature Prize Foundation". The Writers' Prize. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  12. ↑ "The Literature Prize Foundation, registered charity no. 1151069". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  13. ↑ Brown, Mark; correspondent, arts (13 March 2013). "Folio Society named as sponsor of fiction prize to rival Booker". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  14. ↑ "Rathbones Folio Prize increases prize money to £30,000". rathbonesfolioprize.com. 7 February 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  15. ↑ Cain, Sian (15 April 2021). "Rathbones Folio prize paid £30,000 to scammers posing as the winner". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  16. ↑ Page, Benedicte (21 October 2016). "2017 Folio Prize to include non-fiction". The Bookseller. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  17. ↑ Flood, Alison (24 October 2016). "Folio prize 2017 widens scope to judge fiction alongside non-fiction". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  18. ↑ Capon, Felicity (14 March 2013). "The Literature Prize becomes The Folio Prize as its sponsor is revealed". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Knight, Lucy (9 January 2024). "Zadie Smith and Paul Murray on shortlist for Writers' prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  20. ↑ "The Rathbones-Folio Prize [constitution]" (PDF). 23 September 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  21. 1 2 "About The Rathbones Folio Prize". Retrieved 6 March 2023. Each category winner, selected from a shortlist of four, ...
  22. ↑ Shaffi, Sarah (26 July 2022). "Rathbones Folio prize 'refreshing format' to expand to three categories". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  23. ↑ "De Kretser shortlisted for 2023 Folio Prize". Books+Publishing. 1 February 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  24. ↑ Ron Charles (10 March 2014). "George Saunders wins $67,000 for first Folio Prize". Washington Post. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  25. ↑ "Tenth of December by George Saunders wins inaugural Folio Prize 2014" (PDF). Folio Prize. 10 March 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 March 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  26. ↑ Brown, Mark; correspondent, arts (10 March 2014). "George Saunders becomes first winner of UK's newest literary prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  27. ↑ "The 2014 Folio Prize Shortlist is Announced". Folio Prize. 10 February 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  28. ↑ Wood, Gaby (10 February 2014). "Folio Prize 2013: The Americans are coming, but not the ones we were expecting". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 February 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  29. ↑ Flood, Alison (10 February 2014). "Folio prize shortlist dominated by US authors". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  30. ↑ Brown, Mark (23 March 2015). "Akhil Sharma wins Folio prize for fiction". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  31. ↑ Brown, Mark (9 February 2015). "Folio prize shortlist shows literary novel is far from dead, says head judge". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  32. ↑ "The Folio Prize 'suspended' for 2016". The Guardian. 30 September 2015. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  33. ↑ Goyal, Sana (25 May 2017). "Hisham Matar's memoir wins this year's Rathbones Folio Prize". Live Mint. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  34. ↑ Kean, Danuta (24 May 2017). "Folio prize goes to Hisham Matar's memoir The Return". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  35. ↑ Cain, Sian (6 April 2017). "Folio prize returns with nonfiction joining novels on the 2017 shortlist". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  36. ↑ "Announcing the Winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize 2018". Folio Prize. 8 May 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  37. ↑ Cain, Sian (8 May 2018). "Ghosts of the Tsunami wins Rathbones Folio prize for deeply felt reportage of 2011 disaster". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  38. ↑ "Rathbones Folio Shortlist 2018". Folio Prize. 28 March 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  39. ↑ Cain, Sian (28 March 2018). "Top authors make mass call on Man Booker to drop American writers". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  40. ↑ "The Winner of the 2019 Rathbones Folio Prize: Raymond Antrobus". Folio Prize. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  41. ↑ Flood, Alison (20 May 2019). "Raymond Antrobus becomes first poet to win Rathbones Folio prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  42. ↑ Anderson, Porter (4 April 2019). "Rathbones Folio Prize Shortlist: Eight Works in Fiction and Nonfiction". Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  43. ↑ Robinson, Annabel (24 March 2020). "Valeria Luiselli Wins 2020 Rathbones Folio Prize for, 'Singular, Teeming, Extraordinary' Lost Children Archive". FMcM Associates. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  44. ↑ Cowdrey, Katherine (23 March 2020). "Valeria Luiselli named first woman to win Rathbones Folio Prize". The Bookseller. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  45. ↑ Flood, Alison (23 March 2020). "Valeria Luiselli wins £30,000 Rathbones Folio prize for third novel". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  46. ↑ Flood, Alison (25 February 2020). "Rathbones Folio prize: Zadie Smith makes female-dominated shortlist". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  47. ↑ "Folio Prize 2021 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 11 February 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  48. ↑ Flood, Alison (10 February 2021). "Monique Roffey leads strong showing for indies on Rathbones Folio shortlist". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  49. 1 2 "The Rathbones Folio Prize 2022". Rathbones Folio Prize. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  50. ↑ Knight, Lucy (22 March 2022). "Irish novelist Colm Tóibín wins Rathbones Folio prize for The Magician". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  51. ↑ Flood, Alison (9 February 2022). "Damon Galgut and Colm Tóibín join 'rich and large' Rathbones Folio prize shortlist". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  52. 1 2 3 "2023 Shortlist". The Rathbones Folio Prize. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  53. ↑ Shaffi, Sarah (31 January 2023). "NoViolet Bulawayo and Margo Jefferson join 'exciting' Rathbones Folio prize shortlist". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  54. ↑ "Home page". The Writers' Prize. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  55. 1 2 3 Wood, Heloise (9 January 2024). "Smith, Murray and Klein shortlisted for £30k Writers' Prize following major relaunch". The Bookseller. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  56. 1 2 3 Anderson, Porter (9 January 2024). "UK: The Writers' Prize, Formerly Rathbones, Shortlist". Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
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