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 ]
Philosopher A C Grayling will chair the judging panel for this year's Man Booker Prize for... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams is to chair the judging panel for the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hilary Mantel wins the prestigious literary prize the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Bring Up the Bodies. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hilary Mantel has won the Costa Book of the Year for her Man Booker-winning novel Bring Up the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hilary Mantel in the bookies favourite to win the Costa Book of the Year Prize, announced tonight... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Robert Macfarlane is to chair the judging panel for the 2013 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How to Be A Woman author Caitlin Moran is to join the judging panel for the 2013 Blue Peter Book... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Andrew Miller's Costa Book of the Year-winning Pure (Sceptre) has been shortlisted for the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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DJ and ex-Catatonia frontwoman Cerys Matthews is to join the judging panel of the 2012 University... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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John Sutherland, a former judge and chair of the Man Booker prize, is to chair the judging panel... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales of the Costa Book of the Year category winners have trebled since their victories last week... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy has won the Costa Poetry Award for The Bees (Picador), and debut... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Margaret Drabble is the winner of the 2011 Golden PEN Award. The award is given each year by... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Mon, 26/09/2011 - 11:59 Broadcaster and author Melvyn Bragg is to join the judging panel for the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award for a second year in a row. Bragg will be joined by actor Ian Hart, playwright and novelist Hanif Kureishi, novelist Joanna Trollope... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Mon, 26/09/2011 - 14:50 Author Jojo Moyes, Hungerford Bookshop owner Emma Milne-White and Hammicks Sharon Murray are to join the judging panels for this years Costa Book Awards. A total of 568 books have been entered for this years awards, with the category shortlists... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 07/06/2011 - 08:26 David Grossman's novel To the End of the Land (Jonathan Cape) has won this year's £4,000 Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize, trumping both the 2010 Booker and Costa winners. The judging panel, which included Michael Prodger,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Thu, 05/05/2011 - 15:22 New imprint Notting Hill Editions launches today (5th May), with the aim of revitalising essay publishing. Essays by George Perec, Roland Barthes, Lavinia Greenlaw and Jonathan Keates, accompanied by introductions by the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Tue, 19/04/2011 - 08:35 Andrew Motion is to chair the judging panel for the Forward Prizes for Poetry 2011, as the awards celebrate their 20th year. The former poet laureate will be joined on the judging panel by historian Antonia Fraser, assistant books editor at the Daily... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Tue, 15/02/2011 - 09:47 Operation Mincemeat author Ben Macintyre is to chair the judging panel for this year's BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction. The panel also comprises historian, writer and broadcaster Amanda Vickery, Prospect's editor-at-large David Goodhart,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Faber is to release a new illustrated edition of Jo Shapcott's poetry collection Of Mutability, following its win at the Costa Book Awards last night [25th January]. A new b-format illustrated edition of the collection, priced £7.99, will be released in April.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-01-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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