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 ]
Former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg will chair the judging panel for the 2018 Russian Book Prize run by Pushkin House. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A “shake-up” of the Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction will see author Patrice Lawrence, BookTrust’s Emily Drabble and The Good Immigrant contributor Darren Chetty joining the judging panel. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-11-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kid Normal authors Greg James and Chris Smith are joining the Blue Peter Book Awards’ judging panel. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-09-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Artist and writer Edmund de Waal is to chair the judging panel for the 2018 Wellcome Book Prize which celebrates "exceptional books that engage with the topics of health and medicine and the many ways they touch our lives". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-09-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Chatto & Windus has acquired Danez Smith’s second poetry collection, Don’t Call Us Dead. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Chris Kepner sells a three-book sci-fi series to Tor in his first deal since establishing his own agency, Mira buys a debut thriller, Graywolf picks up a poetry collection by Ilya Kaminsky, and more in this week's notable book deals. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales of Tony Walsh’s first poetry collection have almost doubled in the few weeks since he gave a rousing spoken word performance at a vigil following the terror attack at Manchester Arena on 22nd May. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Novelist Naomi Alderman will join the judging panel for the 30th anniversary of The Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rupi Kaur’s first book, Milk and Honey, sold 1.4 million copieSOrdinarily, the illustration adorning the cover of a new book is not a big story, but such is the hype around the young Canadian poet Rupi Kaur that her plan to release the picture to her 1.3 million Instagram followers on 1 June is... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-05-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Head of venerable press says his sector has important role in the defence of free speech and champions the revival of literary fiction and traditional booksFaber & Faber’s chief executive has called for publishers to oppose crackdowns on free speech and the rise of so-called fake news.... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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TV presenter Claudia Winkleman is to join author Cathy Rentzenbrink and Amazon's director of books, Dan Mucha, on the judging panel for children's book award Oscar’s Book Prize. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sebastian Barry, who has won the Costa Book of the Year for a second time, tells the BBC that he dedicated the prize to his son, but reveals his children don't read his books. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2017-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sebastian Barry becomes the first novelist to win the prestigious Costa Book of the Year prize twice. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2017-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Joanna Trollope is to chair the judging panel for the £15,000 BBC National Short Story Award with BookTrust. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-01-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The dominance of three honours in the UK can be prohibitively expensive for small publishers, and end up discouraging risk-taking on ‘difficult’ authorsCutting-edge British literary fiction risks being undermined by its growing reliance on a handful of powerful book prizes, a leading literary... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-01-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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One of Britain’s leading human rights campaigners and former director of political pressure group Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, has joined the judging panel for this year’s Book Trust Lifetime Achievement Award. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales of Frances Hardinge’s YA novel The Lie Tree (Macmillan Children’s Books) have increased 353% in volume terms since winning the Costa Book of the Year, according to Nielsen BookScan data. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Acclaimed art historian and writer Iain Pears is chairing the judging panel for the £10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize 2016. He will be joined by journalist and c.e.o. of website The Pool, Sam Baker, and the literary editor of the Independent on Sunday, Katy Guest. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-02-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Costa Book of the Year is announced on January 26th. Nick Higham spoke to each of the shortlisted authors, including Andrea Wulf, winner of the biography prize. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2016-01-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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