After 50 years, the prize has been scrapped. How did it change Britain’s literary landscape? And what happened at the awards when Margaret Drabble was seated next to Theresa May?Margaret Drabble was a bright young star with five novels to her name in 1971, when she was talked into joining her old friend JB Priestley on the judging panel for a new book prize. “Jack told me that I should spend the fee (which came in wine) by choosing some very nice half-bottles to drink by myself, which I did,” she recalls.Drabble argued for a biography of the playwright Henrik Ibsen, Priestley was keen on a novel by Gerda Charles, and their fellow judge, the critic Anthony Thwaite, championed a poetry collection by Geoffrey Hill. The glory of the new, brewery-sponsored awards was that all three could have prizes, so it all went swimmingly, with none of the squabbles that had already begun to bedevil the Booker, launched two years earlier. These arguments had included one over the literary quality of a certain Margaret Drabble, who (according to Booker judge Dame Rebecca West) would insist on lowering the tone by writing about the washing-up. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2022-06-23 05:00:38 UTC ]
Sex and the City star says being asked ‘felt very daunting’, as she signs up to pick the year’s best novel with Roddy Doyle, Kiley Reid and Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀Sarah Jessica Parker is on the judging panel of the 2025 Booker prize, it has been announced today.Though on the face of it, the American... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-12-10 11:48:06 UTC ]
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The Irish novelist and playwright on the positives of ageing, his struggles with depression and a golden age of Irish writingSebastian Barry, 68, is the author of 11 novels and 15 plays. Five of his books have been long- or shortlisted for the Booker prize, and his novels have won numerous... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-02-10 18:00:48 UTC ]
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The successor to the Costa Book Awards, the new Nero Book Awards announce several winners ahead of the Nero Gold Prize book of the year. The post The UK’s New Nero Book Awards Name Their First Category Winners appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-01-30 22:52:15 UTC ]
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The new Nero Book Awards is a very similar contest to the Costa Book Awards, which bowed out after 50 years in June 2022. The post Another Cup of Coffee: The UK’s Nero Book Awards’ Shortlists appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-12-12 19:02:27 UTC ]
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This year, the nonprofit publisher won its first National Book Award for Craig Santos Perez's poetry collection 'from unincorporated territory [åmot].' Its publisher, Rusty Morrison, forecasts solid sales for that title, and others, this holiday season. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-12-04 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Electric Literature is pleased to reveal the cover for writer Ross White’s poetry collection, Charm Offensive, which will be published by Eyewear Publishing this July. White is the designer and author of Valley of Want, a finalist for Electric Lit’s Best Book Cover of 2022 contest. Charm... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-04-14 11:00:00 UTC ]
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If the literary landscape of the early twentieth century, at least when it comes to short stories, is dominated by Anglophone writers like Katherine Mansfield, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf, then the mid-twentieth century arguably belongs to the Latin American writers who helped to move the... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2023-03-05 18:00:38 UTC ]
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Greenlight Bookstore welcomes Will Alexander, finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, to introduce Divine Blue Light, his new collection of poems from the intersection between surrealism and afro-futurism, where Césaire meets Sun Ra. Will Alexander’s poems constitute an alternative... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-12 09:52:43 UTC ]
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Greenlight is thrilled to welcome award-winning author and long-time friend of the store Saeed Jones back to our Fort Greene events stage to celebrate the release of his new poetry collection, Alive at the End of the World. In haunted poems glinting with laughter, pierced by grief and charged... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-09-29 08:56:48 UTC ]
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‘She saw and felt things us ordinary mortals missed,’ her agent says of Booker prize-winning author who died on Thursday• Hilary Mantel remembered: ‘She was the queen of literature’• ‘The pen is in our hands. A happy ending is ours to write’: Hilary Mantel in her own wordsThe Booker... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-09-23 11:29:23 UTC ]
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Six groups will be chosen to read a shortlisted book, with the most ‘original and engaging’ readers to be invited to the prize ceremony Book clubs across the UK are being invited to take part in the inaugural Booker prize book club challenge, with seats at the prize ceremony dinner up for... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-07-12 12:21:35 UTC ]
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After 50 years, the prize has been scrapped. How did it change Britain’s literary landscape? And what happened at the awards when Margaret Drabble was seated next to Theresa May?Margaret Drabble was a bright young star with five novels to her name in 1971, when she was talked into joining her... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-06-23 05:00:38 UTC ]
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Taking many in the British publishing community by surprise, Costa Book Awards is discontinuing its long-running program. The post In England, Costa Book Awards Is Closing After 50 Years appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-06-10 19:12:26 UTC ]
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Coffee company announces ‘difficult decision’ to end the prizes, sparking a chorus of disappointment across the books industryThe Costa book awards, after running for half a century, have been abruptly scrapped. The coffee shop chain has said the 2021 awards, which were announced in February... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-06-10 13:00:18 UTC ]
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The Costa Book Awards, which was founded in 1971 and known as the Whitbread Book Awards until 2005, is no more. Today, Costa Coffee announced that the 2021 Costa Book Awards, held in February 2022, would be the last iteration of the prizes. “We are incredibly proud to have played a part in... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-06-10 12:34:21 UTC ]
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The National Book Foundation has released its annual list of the “5 Under 35,” a group of five fiction writers under the age of 35 “whose debut work promises to leave a lasting impression on the literary landscape.” Each winner was chosen by a judge who has won a National Book Award, been... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-04-13 15:03:17 UTC ]
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The 50-year-old Costa Book Awards' 2021 cycle has chosen a book of sonnets called 'The Kids' by Hannah Lowe as its top honor. The post In London, Poet Hannah Lowe Wins the Costa Book of the Year Award appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-02-02 01:18:04 UTC ]
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Writer and poet Derek Owusu is to chair the judging panel for the National Centre for Writing's (NCW) £10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize for debut novels. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-20 01:09:43 UTC ]
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The Costa Book Awards program, in its 50th year, names winners in five categories: first novel, novel, biography, poetry, children's books. The post In London, Costa Book Awards Names Its Category Winners appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-01-05 00:15:29 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House has dominated the Costa Book Awards 2021 category winners, with two Viking authors among the victors—Caleb Azumah Nelson and John Preston—along with Fig Tree's Claire Fuller and Manjeet Mann, with only Bloodaxe Books' Hannah Lowe preventing a clean sweep. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-04 12:23:06 UTC ]
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