The TLS Ackerley Prize is awarded annually to a literary
autobiography
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...
of excellence, written by an author of British nationality and published during the preceding year. The winner receives £4,000.
The prize was established by Nancy West, née Ackerley, sister of English author and editor
J. R. Ackerley
Joe Randolph Ackerley (4 November 1896 – 4 June 1967) was a British writer and editor. Starting with the BBC the year after its founding in 1927, he was promoted to literary editor of '' The Listener,'' its weekly magazine, where he served for ...
. It was first awarded in 1982.
The prize is judged by the trustees of the J. R. Ackerley Trust; biographer and historian
Peter Parker
Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the Silver Age of ...
(Chair), the biographer and critic
Claire Harman, and the writer and editor Michael Caines. There is no formal submission process for the award — judges simply "call in" books to be added to their longlist.
Former judges include the novelist
Francis King
Francis Henry King (4 March 19233 July 2011)Ion Trewin and Jonathan Fryer"Obituary: Francis King" ''The Guardian'', 3 July 2011. was a British novelist and short-story writer. He worked for the British Council for 15 years, with positions in ...
, the biographer
Michael Holroyd
Sir Michael de Courcy Fraser Holroyd (born 27 August 1935) is an English biographer.
Early life and education
Holroyd was born in London, the son of Basil de Courcy Fraser Holroyd (a descendant of Sir George Sowley Holroyd, Justice of the King ...
, the editor of Ackerley’s letters, Neville Braybrooke, food writer and historian
Colin Spencer
Colin Spencer (17 July 1933 – 6 July 2023) was an English writer and artist who produced a prolific body of work in a wide variety of media after his first published short stories and drawings appeared in ''The London Magazine'' and ''Encount ...
, the biographer and historian
Richard Davenport-Hines
Richard Peter Treadwell Davenport-Hines (born 21 June 1953 in London) is a British historian and literary biographer, and a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.
Early life
Davenport-Hines was educated at St Paul's School, London (1967†...
and the novelist and short story writer
Georgina Hammick.
In 2023, the Prize’s long partnership with
English PEN
Founded in 1921, English PEN is one of the world's first non-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights. English PEN was the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers' associa ...
, when it was known as the PEN Ackerley Prize, came to an end. The award reverted to its original name of the Ackerley Prize.
In 2024, the Prize formed a partnership with the ''
Times Literary Supplement
''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp.
History
The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
'' and was renamed the TLS Ackerley Prize.
Recipients
* 1982:
Edward Blishen, ''Shaky Relations''
* 1983: Joint winners:
**
Kathleen Dayus, ''Her People''
**
Ted Walker, ''High Path''
* 1984:
Richard Cobb
Richard Charles Cobb (20 May 1917 – 15 January 1996) was a British historian and essayist, and professor at the University of Oxford. He was the author of numerous influential works about the history of France, particularly the French ...
, ''Still Life''
* 1985:
Angelica Garnett
Angelica Vanessa Garnett (née Bell; 25 December 1918 – 4 May 2012), was a British writer, painter and artist. She was the author of the memoir ''Deceived with Kindness'' (1984), an account of her experience growing up at the heart of t ...
, ''Deceived with Kindness''
* 1986:
Dan Jacobson, ''Time and Time Again''
* 1987:
Diana Athill
Diana Athill (21 December 1917 – 23 January 2019) was a British literary editor, novelist and memoirist who worked with some of the greatest writers of the 20th century at the London-based publishing company Andre Deutsch Ltd.
Early life ...
, ''After the Funeral''
* 1988:
Anthony Burgess
John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993) who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer.
Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his Utopian and dystopian fiction, dy ...
, ''
Little Wilson and Big God''
* 1989:
John Healy, ''
The Grass Arena''
* 1990:
Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and feminist, regarded as one of the major voices of the second-wave feminism movement in the latter half of the 20th century.
Specializing in English and women's literature, she ...
, ''Daddy We Hardly Knew You''
* 1991:
Paul Binding, ''St Martin's Ride''
* 1992:
John Osborne
John James Osborne (12 December 1929 – 24 December 1994) was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor, and entrepreneur, who is regarded as one of the most influential figures in post-war theatre. Born in London, he briefly worked as a jo ...
, ''Almost a Gentleman''
* 1993:
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries (17 February 1934 – 22 April 2023) was an Australian comedian, actor, author and satirist. He was best known for writing and playing his stage and television characters Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. He appeare ...
, ''More, Please''
* 1994:
Blake Morrison
Philip Blake Morrison (born 8 October 1950) is an English poet and author who has published in a wide range of fiction and non-fiction genres. His greatest success came with the publication of his memoirs ''And When Did You Last See Your Father?' ...
, ''When Did You Last See Your Father?''
* 1995:
Paul Vaughan
Paul William Vaughan (24 October 1925 – 14 November 2014) was a British journalist, radio presenter (of art and science programmes) throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and a narrator of many BBC Television science documentaries, among them ...
, ''Something in Linoleum''
* 1996:
Eric Lomax, ''The Railway Man''
* 1997:
Tim Lott
Tim Lott (born 23 January 1956) is a British author. He worked as a music journalist and ran a magazine publishing business, launching ''Flexipop'' magazine in 1980 with ex-''Record Mirror'' journalist Barry Cain.
Early life and education
In 1 ...
, ''The Scent of Dried Roses''
* 1998:
Katrin Fitzherbert, ''True to Both Myselves''
* 1999:
Margaret Forster
Margaret Forster (25 May 1938 – 8 February 2016) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, historian and critic, best known for the 1965 novel ''Georgy Girl'', made into a successful film of the same name, which inspired a hit song by T ...
, ''Precious Lives''
* 2000:
Mark Frankland, ''Child of My Time''
* 2001:
Lorna Sage, ''
Bad Blood''
* 2002:
Michael Foss, ''Out of India: A Raj Childhood''
* 2003:
Jenny Diski, ''Stranger on a Train''
* 2004:
Bryan Magee
Bryan Edgar Magee (; 12 April 1930 – 26 July 2019) was a British philosopher, broadcaster, politician and author, best known for bringing philosophy to a popular audience.
Early life
Born of working-class parents in Hoxton, London, in 1930, ...
, ''Clouds of Glory: A Hoxton Childhood''
* 2005:
Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy, ''Half an Arch''
* 2006:
Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. He has received numerous awards and honours including four BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two Tony Awards. In 2005 he received the Socie ...
, ''Untold Stories''
* 2007:
Brian Thompson, ''Keeping Mum''
* 2008:
Miranda Seymour
Miranda Jane Seymour (born 8 August 1948) is an English literary critic, novelist and biographer of Robert Graves, Mary Shelley and Jean Rhys among others. Seymour is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She elected to resign from the Royal S ...
, ''In My Father's House''
* 2009:
Julia Blackburn, ''The Three of Us''
* 2010:
Gabriel Weston, ''Direct Red: A Surgeon's View of Her Life-or-Death Profession''
* 2011:
Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn, FRSL (; born 8 September 1933) is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce ''Noises Off'' and the dramas ''Copenhagen (play), Copenhagen'' and ''Democracy (play), Democracy''.
Frayn's novel ...
, ''My Father’s Fortune''
* 2012:
Duncan Fallowell
Duncan Fallowell FRSL (born 26 September 1948) is an English novelist, travel writer, memoirist, journalist and critic.
Early life
Fallowell was born on 26 September 1948 in London, son of Thomas Edgar Fallowell, of Finchampstead, near Woking ...
, ''How to Disappear''
* 2013:
Richard Holloway, ''Leaving Alexandria: A Memoir of Faith and Doubt'' (Canongate)
* 2014:
Sonali Deraniyagala, ''Wave'' (Virago)
* 2015:
Henry Marsh, ''Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
* 2016:
Alice Jolly, ''Dead Babies and Seaside Towns''
* 2017:
Amy Liptrot, ''
The Outrun'' (Canongate)
* 2018:
Richard Beard, ''
The Day That Went Missing'' (Harvill Secker)
* 2019:
Yrsa Daley-Ward, ''The Terrible'' (Penguin)
* 2020:
Alison Light, ''A Radical Romance: A Memoir of Love, Grief and Consolation'' (Fig Tree)
*2021:
Claire Wilcox, ''Patch Work: A Life Amongst Clothes'' (Bloomsbury)
*2022:
Frances Stonor Saunders
Frances Hélène Jeanne Stonor Saunders FRSL (born 14 April 1966) is a British journalist and historian.
Early life
Frances Stonor Saunders is the daughter of Julia Camoys Stonor and Donald Robin Slomnicki Saunders. Her father, who died in 1997, ...
, ''The Suitcase: Six Attempts to Cross a Border'' (Jonathan Cape)
*2023:
Nancy Campbell, ''Thunderstone: Finding Shelter From the Storm'' (Elliott & Thompson)
*2024: Catherine Taylor, ''The Stirrings: A Memoir in Northern Time'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
References
{{reflist, 30em
External links
Official website
A
Biography awards
Awards established in 1982
1982 establishments in the United Kingdom