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Guardian First Book Award

{{Short description|English-language literary award}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}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. The Guardian First Book Award was discontinued in 2016, with the 2015 awards being the last.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/apr/07/saying-goodbye-to-the-guardian-first-book-award |title=Saying goodbye to the Guardian first book award |work=The Guardian |author=Claire Armitstead |date=7 April 2016 |access-date=9 April 2016}}

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." 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." There was no restriction on genre; for example, both poetry and travel would be included in principle, and so would self-published autobiographies.

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. 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. 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.

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

Winners and finalists

class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"

|+Guardian First Book Award winners and finalists, 2010-2019{{cite web |date=7 April 2016 |title=Guardian first book award: all the winners |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/07/guardian-first-book-award-all-the-winners |access-date=9 April 2016 |work=The Guardian}}

!Year

!Author

!Title

!Result

style="background:#cddeff"

! rowspan="6" |1999

|{{sortname|last=Gourevitch|first=Philip}}

|We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families

|Winner

{{sortname|last=Bathurst|first=Bella}}

|Lighthouse Stevensons

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Jha|first=Raj Kamal}}

|{{sortname|1=The|2=Blue Bedspread}}

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=King|first=Daren}}

|Boxy an Star

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Mitchell|first=David|link=David Mitchell (author)}}

|Ghostwritten

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Younge|first=Gary}}

|No Place Like Home

|Finalist

style="background:#cddeff"

! rowspan="5" |2000

|{{sortname|last=Smith|first=Zadie}}

|White Teeth

|Winner

{{sortname|last=Danielewski|first=Mark Z.}}

|House of Leaves

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Eggers|first=Dave}}

|{{sortname|1=A|2=Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius}}

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Klein|first=Naomi}}

|No Logo

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Pham|first=Andrew X.}}

|Catfish and Mandala: a Vietnamese Odyssey

|Finalist

style="background:#cddeff"

! rowspan="5" |2001

|{{sortname|last=Ware|first=Chris}}

|Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth

|Winner

{{sortname|last=Carter|first=Miranda}}

|Anthony Blunt: His Lives

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Edmonds|first=David|link=David Edmonds (philosopher)}} and John Eidinow

|Wittgenstein's Poker: The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Gold|first=Glen David}}

|Carter Beats the Devil

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Seiffert|first=Rachel}}

|{{sortname|1=The|2=Dark Room|link=The Dark Room (Seiffert novel)}}

|Finalist

style="background:#cddeff"

! rowspan="5" |2002

|{{sortname|last=Foer|first=Jonathan Safran}}

|Everything Is Illuminated

|Winner

{{sortname|last=Fuller|first=Alexandra}}

|Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Kunzru|first=Hari}}

|{{sortname|1=The|2=Impressionist}}

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Morton|first=Oliver|link=Oliver Morton (science writer)}}

|Mapping Mars

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Newman|first=Sandra}}

|{{sortname|1=The|2=Only Good Thing Anyone Has Ever Done|nolink=1}}

|Finalist

style="background:#cddeff"

! rowspan="5" |2003

|{{sortname|last=Macfarlane|first=Robert|link=Robert Macfarlane (writer)}}

|Mountains of the Mind

|Winner

{{sortname|last=Ali|first=Monica}}

|Brick Lane

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Broks|first=Paul}}

|Into the Silent Land

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Funder|first=Anna}}

|Stasiland

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Pierre|first=DBC}}

|Vernon God Little

|Finalist

style="background:#cddeff"

! rowspan="5" |2004

|{{sortname|last=Leroi|first=Armand Marie}}

|Mutants: On the Form, Varieties and Errors of Human Body

|Winner

{{sortname|last=Bezmozgis|first=David}}

|Natasha and Other Stories

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Clarke|first=Susanna}}

|Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Hollis|first=Matthew}}

|Ground Water

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Stewart|first=Rory}}

|{{sortname|1=The|2=Places in Between}}

|Finalist

style="background:#cddeff"

! rowspan="5" |2005

|{{sortname|last=Masters|first=Alexander}}

|Stuart: A Life Backwards

|Winner

{{sortname|last=Aslan|first=Reza}}

|No god but God

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Benson|first=Richard|link=Richard Benson (writer)}}

|{{sortname|1=The|2=Farm|nolink=1}}

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Lapcharoensap|first=Rattawut}}

|Sightseeing

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Mehta|first=Suketu}}

|Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found

|Finalist

style="background:#cddeff"

! rowspan="5" |2006

|{{sortname|last=Li|first=Yiyun}}

|{{sortname|1=A|2=Thousand Years of Good Prayers|link=A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (short story collection)}}

|Winner

{{sortname|last=Adams|first=Lorraine}}

|Harbor

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Allan|first=Clare}}

|Poppy Shakespeare

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Matar|first=Hisham}}

|In the Country of Men

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Tiffany|first=Carrie}}

|Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living

|Finalist

style="background:#cddeff"

! rowspan="5" |2007

|{{sortname|last=Mengestu|first=Dinaw}}

|Children of the Revolution

|Winner

{{sortname|last=Anam|first=Tahmima}}

|{{sortname|1=A|2=Golden Age}}

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Chandrasekaran|first=Rajiv}}

|Imperial Life in the Emerald City

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Hill|first=Rosemary}}

|God's Architect

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=O'Flynn|first=Catherine}}

|What Was Lost

|Finalist

style="background:#cddeff"

! rowspan="5" |2008

|{{sortname|last=Ross|first=Alex|link=Alex Ross (music critic)}}

|{{sortname|1=The|2=Rest Is Noise: Listening to the 20th Century|nolink=1}}

|Winner

{{sortname|last=Hanif|first=Mohammed}}

|{{sortname|1=A|2=Case of Exploding Mangoes}}

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Matthews|first=Owen}}

|Stalin's Children

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Raisin|first=Ross}}

|God's Own Country

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Toltz|first=Steve}}

|{{sortname|1=A|2=Fraction of the Whole}}

|Finalist

style="background:#cddeff"

! rowspan="5" |2009

|{{sortname|last=Gappah|first=Petina}}

|{{sortname|1=An|2=Elegy for Easterly|nolink=1}}

|Winner

{{sortname|last=Catton|first=Eleanor}}

|{{sortname|1=The|2=Rehearsal|link=The Rehearsal (novel)}}

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Harvey|first=Samantha|link=Samantha Harvey (author)}}

|{{sortname|1=The|2=Wilderness|nolink=1}}

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Larsen|first=Reif}}

|{{sortname|1=The|2=Selected Works of T.S. Spivet}}

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Peel|first=Michael}}

|{{sortname|1=A|2=Swamp Full of Dollars|nolink=1}}

|Finalist

style="background:#cddeff"

! rowspan="5" |2010

|{{sortname|last=Harris|first=Alexandra}}

|Romantic Moderns: English Writers, Artists and the Imagination from Virginia Woolf to John Piper

|Winner

{{sortname|last=Beauman|first=Ned}}

|Boxer, Beetle

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Chapman|first=Maile}}

|Your Presence is Requested at Suvanto

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Mohamed|first=Nadifa}}

|Black Mamba Boy

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Schulz|first=Kathryn}}

|In Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error

|Finalist

style="background:#cddeff"

! rowspan="5" |2011

|{{sortname|last=Mukherjee|first=Siddhartha}}

|{{sortname|1=The|2=Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer}}

|Winner

{{sortname|last=Kelman|first=Stephen}}

|Pigeon English

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Villalobos|first=Juan Pablo}}

|Down The Rabbit Hole

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Waheed|first=Mirza}}

|{{sortname|1=The|2=Collaborator|link=The Collaborator (Mirza Waheed novel)}}

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Waldman|first=Amy}}

|{{sortname|1=The|2=Submission|nolink=1}}

|Finalist

style="background:#cddeff"

! rowspan="5" |2012

|{{sortname|last=Powers|first=Kevin}}

|{{sortname|1=The|2=Yellow Birds}}

|Winner

{{sortname|last=Boo|first=Katherine}}

|Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Harbach|first=Chad}}

|{{Sortname|The|Art of Fielding}}

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Hilsum|first=Lindsey}}

|Sandstorm: Libya in the Time of Revolution

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Hudson|first=Kerry}}

|Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma

|Finalist

style="background:#cddeff"

! rowspan="5" |2013

|{{sortname|last=Ryan|first=Donal}}

|{{sortname|1=The|2=Spinning Heart}}

|Winner

{{sortname|last=Bulawayo|first=NoViolet}}

|We Need New Names

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=El Feki|first=Shereen}}

|Sex and the Citadel

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Kent|first=Hannah}}

|Burial Rites

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Moggach|first=Lottie}}

|Kiss Me First

|Finalist

style="background:#cddeff"

! rowspan="5" |2014

|{{sortname|last=Barrett|first=Colin|link=Colin Barrett (author)}}

|Young Skins

|Winner

{{sortname|last=Marsh|first=Henry|link=Henry Marsh (neurosurgeon)}}

|Do No Harm

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=McFarlane|first=Fiona}}

|The Night Guest

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Osnos|first=Evan}}

|Age of Ambition

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Tan|first=May-Lan}}

|Things to Make and Break

|Finalist

style="background:#cddeff"

! rowspan="6" |2015

|{{sortname|last=McMillan|first=Andrew|link=Andrew McMillan (poet)}}

|Physical

|Winner

{{sortname|last=Cook|first=Diane}}

|Man v Nature

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Obioma|first=Chigozie}}

|{{sortname|1=The|2=Fishermen|link=The Fishermen (Obioma novel)}}

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Pomerantsev|first=Peter}}

|Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Porter|first=Max|link=Max Porter (writer)}}

|Grief Is the Thing with Feathers

|Finalist

{{sortname|last=Taylor|first=Sara}}

|{{sortname|1=The|2=Shore|nolink=1}}

|Finalist

See also

{{Portal |Books}}

References

{{reflist |30em |refs=

Claire Armitstead, [https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/aug/27/guardianfirstbookaward1999.gurardianfirstbookaward "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,

[https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/nov/06/guardianfirstbookaward1999.gurardianfirstbookaward1 "Readers pick top Guardian books"], The Guardian, 6 November 1999. Retrieved 18 April 2013.

[https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/dec/02/guardianfirstbookaward1999.gurardianfirstbookaward1 "Claire Armitstead on the First Book Award: Guardian literary editor's speech from the ceremony"]. The Guardian, 2 December 1999. Retrieved 17 April 2013.

[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/apr/16/guardian-first-book-award-2013 "Enter the Guardian first book award 2013"]. The Guardian, 16 April 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2013.

}}

;Annual home pages for the First Book Award, 1999 to present

{{colbegin}}

  • [http://books.guardian.co.uk/specialreports/firstbook/0,,101225,00.html Guardian First Book Award 1999]
  • [http://books.guardian.co.uk/firstbook2000/0,,345809,00.html Guardian First Book Award 2000]
  • [http://books.guardian.co.uk/firstbook2001/0,,506971,00.html Guardian First Book Award 2001]
  • [http://books.guardian.co.uk/firstbook2002/0,,779641,00.html Guardian First Book Award 2002]
  • [http://books.guardian.co.uk/firstbook2003/0,,1021848,00.html Guardian First Book award 2003]
  • [http://books.guardian.co.uk/guardianfirstbookaward2004/0,15009,1289898,00.html Guardian First Book Award 2004]
  • [http://books.guardian.co.uk/fba2005/0,,1542467,00.html Guardian First Book Award 2005]
  • [http://books.guardian.co.uk/fba2006/0,,1855769,00.html Guardian First Book Award 2006]
  • [http://books.guardian.co.uk/fba2007/0,,2153356,00.html Guardian First Book Award 2007]
  • [https://www.theguardian.com/books/guardian-first-book-award-2008 Guardian First Book award 2008]
  • [https://www.theguardian.com/books/guardian-first-book-award-2009 Guardian First Book award 2009]
  • [https://www.theguardian.com/books/guardian-first-book-award-2010 Guardian First Book award 2010]
  • [https://www.theguardian.com/books/guardian-first-book-award-2011 Guardian First Book award 2011]
  • [https://www.theguardian.com/books/guardian-first-book-award-2012 Guardian First Book award 2012]
  • [https://www.theguardian.com/books/guardian-first-book-award-2013 Guardian First Book award 2013]
  • [https://www.theguardian.com/books/guardian-first-book-award-2014 Guardian First Book award 2014]
  • [https://www.theguardian.com/books/guardian-first-book-award-2015 Guardian First Book award 2015]

{{colend}}

External links

Category:British literary awards

First Book Award

Category:Literary awards by magazines and newspapers

Category:First book awards

Category:Awards established in 1999

Category:1999 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:Awards disestablished in 2015

Category:2015 disestablishments in the United Kingdom