The Guardian First Book Award was a literary award presented by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' newspaper. It annually recognised one book by a new writer. It was established in 1999, replacing the Guardian Fiction Award or

Guardian Fiction Prize The Guardian Fiction Prize was a literary award sponsored by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. Founded in 1965, it recognized one fiction book per year written by a British or Commonwealth writer and published in the United Kingdom. The award ran for 33 ...

that the newspaper had sponsored from 1965. The Guardian First Book Award was discontinued in 2016, with the 2015 awards being the last.

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 book stores in

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Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

and

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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 New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''. The judges chose the latter, ''

We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families #REDIRECT We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families {{R from other capitalisation ...

'' —"a horrifying but humane account of the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

, 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 shortlists

Source: Blue ribbon () = winner ;1999 * Philip Gourevitch, ''

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families #REDIRECT We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families {{R from other capitalisation ...

'', a hybrid of journalism and travelogue about the Rwandan genocide * Daren King, ''

Boxy an Star ''Boxy an Star'' is the first novel by English author Daren King. It was shortlisted for the 1999 Guardian First Book Award and longlisted for the Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and ...

'', a drugs fantasy written in a beautifully sustained argot * David Mitchell, ''

Ghostwritten ''Ghostwritten'' is the first novel published by English author David Mitchell. Published in 1999, it won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and was widely acclaimed. The story takes place mainly around East Asia, but also moves through Russia, B ...

'', a patchwork of stories from all corners of the world * Raj Kamal Jha, '' The Blue Bedspread'', a chamber tragedy by

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References

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

Guardian First Book award 2008

Guardian First Book award 2009

Guardian First Book award 2010

Guardian First Book award 2011

Guardian First Book award 2012

Guardian First Book award 2013

Guardian First Book award 2014

Guardian First Book award 2015
{{colend

External links

Books
at ''theguardian'' British literary awards First Book Award Literary awards by magazines and newspapers First book awards Awards established in 1999 Awards disestablished in 1999 1999 establishments in the United Kingdom 2016 disestablishments in the United Kingdom

History

Winners and shortlists

See also

References

External links