The Travelling Scholarships were established in 1944 to enable British creative writers to keep in touch with their colleagues abroad. As directed by the anonymous founder of the trust, the Scholarships are administered by the

Society of Authors The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to protect the rights and further the interests of authors. Membership of the society is open to "anyon ...

and applications are not accepted – recipients are nominated by the assessors for the year. In 2020, each awardee received £1600.

List of prize winners

1940s

1946 * C. Day Lewis *

V. S. Pritchett Sir Victor Sawdon Pritchett (also known as VSP; 16 December 1900 – 20 March 1997) was a British writer and literary critic. Pritchett was known particularly for his short stories, collated in a number of volumes. Among his most noteworthy w ...

William Sansom William Norman Trevor Sansom FRSL (born Norman Trevor Sansom; 18 January 1912 – 20 April 1976) was a British novelist, travel and short-story writer known for his highly descriptive prose style. Profile Sansom was born in London, Englan ...

1947 *

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer, whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Un ...

1948 *

Julia Strachey Julia Strachey (14 August 1901 – 1979) was an English writer, born in Allahabad, India, where her father, Oliver Strachey, the elder brother of Lytton Strachey, was a civil servant. Her mother, Ruby Mayer (1881–1959), was of Swiss-German or ...

* George Barker 1949 *

William Plomer William Charles Franklyn Plomer (10 December 1903 – 20 September 1973) was a South African and British novelist, poet and literary editor. He also wrote a series of librettos for Benjamin Britten. He wrote some of his poetry under the pseud ...

* Margiad Evans * Jocelyn Brooke

1950s

1950 *

David Gascoyne David Gascoyne (10 October 1916 – 25 November 2001) was an English poet associated with the Surrealist movement, in particular the British Surrealist Group. Additionally, he translated work by French surrealist poets. Early life and surreal ...

1951 *

Laurie Lee Laurence Edward Alan Lee, (26 June 1914 – 13 May 1997) was an English poet, novelist and screenwriter, who was brought up in the small village of Slad in Gloucestershire. His most notable work is the autobiographical trilogy '' Cider w ...

1952 *

Vernon Watkins Vernon Phillips Watkins (27 June 1906 – 8 October 1967) was a Welsh poet and translator. His headmaster at Repton was Geoffrey Fisher, who became Archbishop of Canterbury. Despite his parents being Nonconformists, Watkins' school experience ...

1953 *

Arthur Calder-Marshall Arthur Calder-Marshall (19 August 1908 – 17 April 1992) was an English novelist, essayist, critic, memoirist, and biographer. Life and career Calder-Marshall was born in El Misti, Woodcote Road, Wallington, Surrey, the son of Alice (Poole) a ...

1954 *

Charles Causley Charles Stanley Causley CBE FRSL (24 August 1917 – 4 November 2003) was a Cornish poet, school teacher and writer. His work is often noted for its simplicity and directness as well as its associations with folklore, legends and magic, especi ...

* F.P. Prince 1956 *

Maurice Cranston __NOTOC__ Maurice William Cranston (8 May 1920 – 5 November 1993) was a British philosopher, professor and author. He served for many years as Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics, and was also known for his pop ...

1958 *

William Golding Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel '' Lord of the Flies'' (1954), Golding published another 12 volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 19 ...

Samuel Selvon Samuel Dickson Selvon (20 May 1923 – 16 April 1994)"Samuel Selvon"
''Encyclop ...

1960s

1960 *

Michael Swan Michael Swan (born June 11, 1948) is an American film and TV actor. Early life Swan was born in San Jose, California, the son of actress Alys Lucille (née Wilkinson) and Donald Arthur Swan.John Whiting John Robert Whiting (15 November 1917 – 16 June 1963) was an English scriptwriter and actor. Life and career Born in Salisbury, he was educated at Taunton School, "the particular hellish life which is the English public school" as he descr ...

1961 * David Jones 1962 * Frank Tuohy 1963 *

R. S. Thomas Ronald Stuart Thomas (29 March 1913 – 25 September 2000), published as R. S. Thomas, was a Welsh poet and Anglican priest noted for nationalism, spirituality and dislike of the anglicisation of Wales. John Betjeman, introducing ''Song at the ...

Norman MacCaig Norman Alexander MacCaig (14 November 1910 – 23 January 1996) was a Scottish poet and teacher. His poetry, in modern English, is known for its humour, simplicity of language and great popularity. Life Norman Alexander MacCaig was born at 15 E ...

1964 *

Christine Brooke-Rose Christine Brooke-Rose (16 January 1923 – 21 March 2012) was a British writer and literary critic, known principally for her experimental novels.Margaret Drabble Dame Margaret Drabble, Lady Holroyd, (born 5 June 1939) is an English biographer, novelist and short story writer. Drabble's books include '' The Millstone'' (1965), which won the following year's John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize, and '' Je ...

1966 *

1967 *

George Mackay Brown George Mackay Brown (17 October 1921 – 13 April 1996) was a Scottish poet, author and dramatist with a distinctly Orkney, Orcadian character. He is widely regarded as one of the great Scottish poets of the 20th century. Biography Early life a ...

Stevie Smith Florence Margaret Smith (20 September 1902 – 7 March 1971), known as Stevie Smith, was an English poet and novelist. She won the Cholmondeley Award and was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. A play, '' Stevie'' by Hugh Whitemore, bas ...

1968 *

Naomi Lewis Naomi Lewis (3 September 1911 – 5 July 2009) was a British poet, essayist, literary critic, anthologist and reteller of stories for children. She is particularly noted for her translations of the Danish children's author, Hans Christian Ande ...

1969 *

Peter Vansittart Peter Vansittart OBE, FRSL (27 August 1920 – 4 October 2008) was an English writer. He had 50 novels published between 1942 and 2008; he also wrote historical studies, memoirs, stories for children and three anthologies: ''Voices from the Great ...

1970s

1970 *

Ronald Blythe Ronald George Blythe (6 November 1922 – 14 January 2023) was a British writer, essayist and editor, best known for his work ''Akenfield'' (1969), an account of agricultural life in Suffolk from the Fin de siècle, turn of the century to the ...

1971 *

William Trevor William Trevor Cox (24 May 1928 – 20 November 2016) was an Irish novelist, playwright, and short story writer. One of the elder statesmen of the Irish literary world, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest contemporary writers of sho ...

1972 *

Norman Nicholson Norman Cornthwaite Nicholson (8 January 1914 – 30 May 1987) was an English writer. Although he is now known chiefly for his poetry, Nicholson also wrote in many other forms: novels, plays, essays, topography and criticism. Biography Nich ...

1973 *

Philip Callow Philip Kenneth Callow (26 October 1924 – 22 September 2007) was an English novelist known for his autobiographical portrayals of working-class life. During a long career as a writer, he published 16 novels, poetry, and several biographies of ar ...

1974 *

John McGahern John McGahern (12 November 1934 – 30 March 2006) was an Irish writer and novelist. Known for the detailed dissection of Irish life found in works such as '' The Barracks'', '' The Dark'' and '' Amongst Women'', he was hailed by ''The Ob ...

1975 *

Maureen Duffy Maureen Patricia Duffy (born 21 October 1933) is an English poet, playwright, novelist and non-fiction author. Long an activist covering such issues as gay rights and animal rights, she campaigns especially on behalf of authors. She has receive ...

1976 *

Lettice Cooper Lettice Ulpha Cooper OBE (3 September 1897 – 24 July 1994) was an English writer. Biography She began to write stories when she was seven, and studied Classics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, graduating in 1918. She returned home after Oxfor ...

Gavin Ewart Gavin Buchanan Ewart Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, FRSL (4 February 1916 – 23 October 1995) was a British poet who contributed to Geoffrey Grigson's ''New Verse'' at the age of seventeen. Early life Gavin Ewart was born in Lond ...

1977 * Philippa Pullar *

Ted Walker Edward Joseph (Ted) Walker FRSL (28 November 1934 – 19 March 2004) was a prize-winning English poet, short story writer, travel writer, TV and radio dramatist and broadcaster. Early life Ted Walker was born in Lancing, West Sussex, the son of ...

1978 *

Edward Blishen Edward Blishen (29 April 1920 – 13 December 1996) was an English author and broadcaster. He may be known best for the first of two children's novels based on Greek mythology, written with Leon Garfield, illustrated by Charles Keeping, and pu ...

Emyr Humphreys Emyr Owen Humphreys, FRSL, FLSW (; 15 April 191930 September 2020) was a Welsh novelist, poet, and author. His career spanned from the 1940s until his retirement in 2009. He published in both English and Welsh. Early life and career Humphre ...

1979 *

Jacky Gillott Jacqueline Anne Gillott (24 September 1939 – 19 September 1980) was an English novelist and broadcaster.'Miss Jacky Gillott: Journalist, broadcaster and novelist', ''The Times'', 22 September 1980 She was one of Britain's first female television ...

* Peter Porter

1980s

1980 *

D. J. Enright Dennis Joseph Enright OBE FRSL (11 March 1920 – 31 December 2002) was a British academic, poet, novelist and critic. He authored ''Academic Year'' (1955), ''Memoirs of a Mendicant Professor'' (1969) and a wide range of essays, reviews, antho ...

Fay Weldon Fay Weldon (born Franklin Birkinshaw; 22 September 1931 – 4 January 2023) was an English author, essayist and playwright. Over the course of her 55-year writing career, she published 31 novels, including ''Puffball'' (1980), '' The Cloning o ...

1981 *

Douglas Dunn Douglas Eaglesham Dunn, OBE (born 23 October 1942) is a Scottish poet, academic, and critic. He is Professor of English and Director of St Andrew's Scottish Studies Institute at St Andrew's University. Background Dunn was born in Inchinnan, ...

Mervyn Jones Mervyn Thomas Jones (born 23 November 1942) is a British diplomat who was Governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands from January 2000 to November 2002. Jones was succeeded by acting Governor Cynthia Astwood on 26 November 2002. Before taking up t ...

1982 * Rosemary Dinnage * Richard Holmes 1983 * U. A. Fanthorpe *

Hilary Spurling Susan Hilary Spurling ( Forrest; born 25 December 1940) is a British writer, known for her work as a journalist and biographer. Early life and education Born in Stockport, Cheshire, to circuit judge Gilbert Alexander Forrest (1912–1977) and t ...

1984 *

Alan Brownjohn Alan Charles Brownjohn (28 July 1931 – 23 February 2024) was an English poet and novelist. He also worked as a teacher, lecturer, critic and broadcaster. Life and work Alan Charles Brownjohn was born in London on 28 July 1931. He was educated ...

P. N. Furbank Philip Nicholas Furbank FRSL (; 23 May 1920 – 27 June 2014) was an English biographer, critic and academic. His most significant biography was the well-received life of his friend E. M. Forster. Career Born in Cranleigh in 1920, Furbank, aft ...

Martin Seymour-Smith Martin Roger Seymour-Smith (24 April 1928 – 1 July 1998) was a British poet, literary critic, and biographer. Biography Seymour-Smith was born in London and educated at Highgate School and St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he was editor of ''Isis ...

Jackie Kay Jacqueline Margaret Kay (born 9 November 1961) is a Scottish poet, playwright, and novelist, known for her works ''Other Lovers'' (1993), ''Trumpet'' (1998) and ''Red Dust Road'' (2011). Kay has won many awards, including the Somerset Maugham A ...

1985 *

John Griffith Bowen John Griffith Bowen (5 November 1924 – 18 April 2019) was a British playwright and novelist. Early life John Bowen was born in Calcutta, British India, India, to Ethel (née Cook) and Hugh Bowen; his father was the manager of the Shalimar Prin ...

Dan Jacobson Dan Jacobson (7 March 1929 – 12 June 2014) was a South African novelist, short story writer, critic and essayist of Lithuanian Jewish descent. Early life and career Dan Jacobson was born 7 March 1929, in Johannesburg, South Africa, where his p ...

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

and Jeanne MacKenzie 1986 *

Shena Mackay Shena Mackay FRSL (born 6 June 1944) is a Scottish novelist born in Edinburgh. She was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1996 for '' The Orchard on Fire'', and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize and the Orange Prize for Fictio ...

Vernon Scannell Vernon Scannell (23 January 1922 – 16 November 2007) was a British poet and author. He was at one time a professional boxer, and wrote novels about the sport of boxing. He was a famous poet of English. Life Vernon Scannell, whose birth na ...

Iain Crichton Smith Iain Crichton Smith, (Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic: ''Iain Mac a' Ghobhainn''; 1 January 1928 – 15 October 1998) was a Scottish people, Scottish poet and novelist, who wrote in both English and Gaelic. He was born in Glasgow, but moved to the Isl ...

1987 * A. L. Barker *

Eva Figes Eva Figes (; 15 April 1932 – 28 August 2012) was an English author and feminist. Figes wrote novels, literary criticism, studies of feminism, and vivid memoirs relating to her Berlin childhood and later experiences as a Jewish refugee from Hit ...

Allan Massie Allan Johnstone Massie (born 16 October 1938) is a Scottish journalist, columnist, sports writer and novelist. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He has lived in the Scottish Borders for the last 25 years, and now lives in Se ...

David Rudkin James David Rudkin (born 29 June 1936) is an England, English playwright. Early life Rudkin was born in London. Coming from a family of strict evangelical Christians, he was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and read Mods and Great ...

1988 *

Sybille Bedford Sybille Bedford, OBE (16 March 1911 – 17 February 2006) was a German-born English writer of non-fiction and semi-autobiographical fiction books. She was a recipient of the Golden PEN Award. Early life She was born as Sybille Aleid Elsa vo ...

David Harsent David Harsent (born in Devon in 1942) is an English poet who for some time earned his living as a TV scriptwriter and crime novelist. Background During his early career he was part of a circle of poets centred on Ian Hamilton and forming somet ...

Barry Hines Melvin Barry Hines, FRSL (30 June 1939 – 18 March 2016) was an English author, playwright and screenwriter. His novels and screenplays explore the political and economic struggles of working-class Northern England, particularly in his native W ...

* Nicholas Wollaston 1989 *

Roy Heath Roy Aubrey Kelvin Heath (13 August 1926 – 14 May 2008) was a Guyanese writer who settled in the UK, where he lived for five decades, working as a schoolteacher as well as writing. His 1978 novel '' The Murderer'' won the ''Guardian'' Fictio ...

Adrian Mitchell Adrian Mitchell FRSL (24 October 1932 – 20 December 2008) was an English poet, novelist, and playwright. A former journalist, he became a noted figure on the British left. For almost half a century he was the foremost poet of the country's C ...

* Elizabeth North

1990s

1990 *

David Caute John David Caute is a British novelist, playwright, journalist, and historian. His fiction and non-fiction have usually focused on leftist politics, often occurring outside England. He wrote a comprehensive history, ''The Great Fear'', about th ...

Roy Fisher Roy Fisher (11 June 1930 – 21 March 2017) was an English poet and jazz pianist. His poetry shows an openness to both European and American modernist influences, whilst remaining grounded in the experience of living in the English Midlands. ...

David Hughes David Hughes is the name of the following people: Arts *Dave Hughes (born 1970), Australian comedian * Dave Hughes (producer) (born 1971), American television producer and editor *David Hughes (illustrator) (born 1968), British illustrator Liter ...

Robert Nye Robert Nye FRSL (15 March 1939 – 2 July 2016) was an English poet and author. His bestselling novel ''Falstaff'', published in 1976, was described by Michael Ratcliffe (writing in ''The Times'') as "one of the most ambitious and seductive ...

1991 *

Anne Devlin Anne Devlin (1780 – 18 September 1851) was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican who in 1803, while his ostensible housekeeper, conspired with Robert Emmet, and with her cousin, the rebel outlaw Michael Dwyer to renew the Irish Rebellion o ...

Elaine Feinstein Elaine Feinstein FRSL (born Elaine Cooklin; 24 October 1930 – 23 September 2019) was an English poet, novelist, short-story writer, playwright, biographer and translator. She joined the Council of the Royal Society of Literature in 2007. Earl ...

Iain Sinclair Iain Sinclair FRSL (born 11 June 1943) is a writer and filmmaker. Much of his work is rooted in London, recently within the influences of psychogeography. Early life and education Sinclair was born in Cardiff, Wales, on 11 June 1943. From 19 ...

Emma Tennant Emma Christina Tennant FRSL (20 October 1937 – 21 January 2017) was an English novelist and editor of Scottish extraction, known for a post-modern approach to her fiction, often imbued with fantasy or magic. Several of her novels give a femi ...

1992 *

Jim Crace James Crace (born 1 March 1946) is an English novelist, playwright and short story writer. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1999, Crace was born in Hertfordshire and has lectured at the University of Texas at Austin. His ...

Donald Davie Donald Alfred Davie, FBA (17 July 1922 – 18 September 1995) was an English Movement poet, and literary critic. His poems in general are philosophical and abstract, but often evoke various landscapes. Biography Davie was born in Barnsley, ...

* Louis de Bernieres 1993 * Maurice Leitch *

Peter Levi Peter Chad Tigar Levi (16 May 1931, in Ruislip – 1 February 2000, in Frampton-on-Severn) was an English poet, archaeologist, Jesuit priest, travel writer, biographer, academic and prolific reviewer and critic. He was Professor of Poetry at ...

Bernard MacLaverty Bernard MacLaverty (born 14 September 1942) is a Northern Irish fiction writer and novelist. His novels include '' Cal'' and '' Grace Notes''. He has written five books of short stories. Biography MacLaverty was born in no. 73 Atlantic Avenue ...

1994 * Peter Benson *

Jenny Joseph Jenny Joseph (7 May 1932 – 8 January 2018) was an English poet, best known for the poem "Warning". Early life and education Jenny Joseph was born on 7 May 1932 in South Hill, Carpenter Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, to Florence (née Cotto ...

1995 *

Stewart Conn Stewart Conn (born 1936) is a Scottish poet and playwright, born in Hillhead, Glasgow.''Galaxy 2'' Maryhill Writers Group (2004) His father was a minister at Kelvinside Church but the family moved to Kilmarnock, Ayrshire in 1941 when he was five. ...

Annette Kobak Annette may refer to: Film and television * '' Walt Disney Presents: Annette'', 1950s television series * ''Annette'' (film), a 2021 musical film Other * Annette (given name), list of people with the name * Annette Island, Alaska * Tropical Storm ...

* Theo Richmond 1996 * William Palmer *

Jo Shapcott Jo Shapcott (born 24 March 1953 in London) is an English poet, editor and lecturer who has won the National Poetry Competition, the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Costa Book of the Year Award, a Forward Prizes for Poetry and the Cholmondele ...

* James Simmons 1997 * Dorothy Nimmo *

Dilys Rose Dilys Rose is a Scottish fiction writer and poet. Born in 1954 in Glasgow, Rose studied at Edinburgh University, where she taught creative writing from 2002 until 2017. She was Director of the MSc in Creative Writing by Online Learning from 201 ...

* Paul Sayer 1999 *

Julia Blackburn Julia Blackburn (born 1948) is a British author of both fiction and non-fiction. She is the daughter of poet Thomas Blackburn and artist Rosalie de Meric. Julia Blackburn's bohemian and troubled upbringing is the subject of her memoir ''The T ...

* David Hart * David Mitchell

2000s

2000 *

Robert Edric Robert Edric (born 14 April 1956) is the pseudonym of Gary Edric Armitage, a British novelist born in Sheffield. Nick Rennison has suggested that Edric might be "the finest and most adventurous writer of historical fiction of his generation". Hi ...

* Georgina Hammick * Grace Ingoldby * Walter Perrie 2001 *

Alan Judd Alan Judd (born 1946) is a pseudonym used by Alan Edwin Petty. Born in 1946, he is a former soldier and diplomat who now works as a security analyst and writer in the United Kingdom. He writes both books and articles, regularly contributing to a ...

Christina Koning Christina Koning (born 1954)"(Angela) Christina Koning", ''The Writers Directory'', St. James Press, 2018; online version in ''Gale In Context: Biography''. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024. is a novelist, journalist and academic. Life Koning was born in ...

* Tessa Ransford *

Maurice Riordan Maurice Riordan (born 1953) is an Irish poet, translator, and editor. Born in Lisgoold, County Cork, his poetry collections include: ''A Word from the Loki'' (1995), a largely London-based collection which was a Poetry Book Society Choice an ...

2002 * Frank Kuppner * David Park *

George Szirtes George Szirtes (; born 29 November 1948) is a British poet and translator from the Hungarian language into English. Originally from Hungary, he has lived in the United Kingdom for most of his life after coming to the country as a refugee at the ...

2003 * Kate Chisholm *

Jamie McKendrick Jamie McKendrick (born 27 October 1955) is a British poet and translator. Early life and education McKendrick was born in Liverpool, 27 October 1955, and educated at the Quaker school, Bootham, York, and Liverpool College. He studied English L ...

Aonghas Macneacail Aonghas MacNeacail (born Angus Nicolson; 7 June 1942 – 19 December 2022), nicknamed ("Black-haired Angus"), was a contemporary writer in the Scottish Gaelic language. Early life Angus Nicolson was born in Uig on the Isle of Skye on 7 June ...

2004 * Tim Binding *

Colm Toibin Colm (; ) is a masculine given name of Irish origin. It is not an Irish version of ''Colin'', but like '' Callum'' and ''Malcolm'' derives from a Gaelic variation on ''columba'', the Latin word for "dove". The reason for the name's use for ov ...

2005 * Anna Crowe *

Lavinia Greenlaw Lavinia Elaine Greenlaw (born 30 July 1962) is an English poet, novelist and non-fiction writer. She won the Prix du Premier Roman with her first novel and her poetry has been shortlisted for awards that include the T. S. Eliot Prize, Forward Pri ...

2006 *

Jenny Diski Jenny Diski FRSL (née Simmonds; 8 July 1947 – 28 April 2016) was an English novelist, non-fiction writer and memoirist. Diski was a regular contributor to the ''London Review of Books''; the collections ''Don't'' and ''Why Didn't You Do W ...

* Robert Macfarlane * Helen Simpson 2007 *

Naomi Alderman Naomi Alderman (born 1974) is an English novelist, Game design, game writer, and television executive producer. She is best known for her speculative science fiction novel ''The Power (Alderman novel), The Power'', which won the Women's Prize f ...

* Susan Elderkin * Philip Marsden 2008 *

Marina Lewycka Marina Lewycka ( ; born 12 October 1946) is a British novelist of Ukraine, Ukrainian origin. Early life Lewycka was born in a refugee camp in Kiel after World War II. Her family subsequently moved to England; she now lives in Sheffield, South ...

Ruth Padel Ruth Sophia Padel FRSL FZS (born 8 May 1946) is a British poet, novelist and non-fiction author. Life She studied Greek at Oxford, where she sang in Schola Cantorum of Oxford, wrote a PhD on ancient Greek poetry, and was a Research Fellow at W ...

Colin Thubron Colin Gerald Dryden Thubron (born 14 June 1939) is a British travel writer and novelist. In 2008, ''The Times'' ranked him among the 50 greatest postwar British writers. He is a contributor to ''The New York Review of Books'', ''The Times'', '' ...

2009 *

Paul Farley Paul Farley FRSL (born 1965) is a British poet, writer and broadcaster. Life and work Farley was born in Liverpool. He studied painting at the Chelsea School of Art, and has lived in London, Brighton and Cumbria. His first collection of poetry ...

Eva Hoffman Eva Hoffman (born Ewa Wydra on 1 July 1945) is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning writer and academic. Early life and education Eva Hoffman was born in Kraków, Poland, shortly after World War II. Her parents, Boris and Maria Wydra, surv ...

2010s

2010 * Sam North *

Lemn Sissay Lemn Sissay FRSL (born 21 May 1967) is a British author and broadcaster. He was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics, was chancellor of the University of Manchester from 2015 until 2022, and joined the Foundling Museum's board of trus ...

Roma Tearne Roma Tearne (née Chrysostom; born 1954) is a Sri Lankan-born artist and writer living and working in England. Her debut novel, ''Mosquito'', was shortlisted for the 2007 Costa Book Awards first Novel prize (formerly the Whitbread Prize). Earl ...

2011 *

Mark Cocker Mark Cocker (born 1959) is a British author and naturalist. He lives with his wife, Mary Muir, and two daughters in Claxton, Norfolk. The countryside around Claxton is a theme for two of his twelve books. Cocker has written extensively for B ...

Rose George Rose George is a British journalist and author. She has explored topics such as refugees, sanitation and human waste, and human blood in her books. Education In 1992, George earned a First-Class Honours BA in Modern Languages from Somerville ...

* Ben Markovits 2012 *

Stella Duffy Stella Frances Silas Duffy (born 1963) is a London-born writer and theatremaker. Born in London, she spent her childhood in New Zealand before returning to the UK. Early life and education Born in London in 1963 to a New Zealand father and an ...

Matthew Hollis Matthew Hollis (born 1971) is an English author, editor, professor, and poet, currently living in London, England. Career and background He was born in Norwich, England, the son of politician Patricia Hollis and academic Martin Hollis. He ...

Justin Marozzi Justin Marozzi (born 1970) is an English journalist, historian and travel writer. Biography Marozzi studied at Cambridge University, where he gained a Starred Double First in History in 1993. He has also earned degrees in broadcast journalism f ...

2013 *

Kathleen Jamie Kathleen Jamie FRSL (born 13 May 1962) is a Scottish poet and essayist. In 2021 she became Scotland's fourth Makar. Life and work Kathleen Jamie is a poet and essayist. Raised in Currie, near Edinburgh, she studied philosophy at the University ...

Olivia Laing Olivia Laing (born 14 April 1977) is a British writer, novelist and cultural critic. They are the author of five works of non-fiction, ''To the River'', ''The Trip to Echo Spring,'' '' The Lonely City'', ''Everybody'', ''The Garden Against Time'' ...

* Elizabeth Cooke * James Fergusson 2014 *

Eimear McBride Eimear McBride (born 6 October 1976) is an Irish novelist, whose debut novel, ''A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing'', won the inaugural Goldsmiths Prize in 2013 and the 2014 Women's Prize for Fiction, Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. She was elected ...

Daljit Nagra Daljit Nagra (born 1966) is a British poet whose debut collection, ''Look We Have Coming to Dover!'' was published by Faber in 2007. Nagra's poems relate to the experience of Indians born in the UK (especially Indian Sikhs), and often employ l ...

Michela Wrong Michela Wrong (born 1961) is a British journalist and author. She has written about Africa for over 20 years. She began her career covering European affairs before focusing on Africa, reporting on its Western, Central, and Eastern regions. ...

2015 *

Tahmima Anam Tahmima Anam (; born 8 October 1975) is a Bangladeshi-born British writer, novelist and columnist. Her first novel, '' A Golden Age'' (2007), was the Best First Book winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prizes. Her follow-up novel, '' The Go ...

* James Hall * Philip Terry *

Rupert Thomson Rupert Thomson, FRSL (born 5 November 1955) is an English writer. He is the author of thirteen critically acclaimed novels and an award-winning memoir. He has lived in many cities around the world, including Athens, Berlin, New York, Sydney, Lo ...

2016 *

Jamie Bartlett James 'Yoink' Bartlett (9 July 1966 – 23 May 2022) was a British-born South African actor best known for his role as the wicked puppet master, David Genaro, in '' Rhythm City'' and his theatre work. Career Television Bartlett was a well-kno ...

* David Crane *

Peter Oswald Peter Charles Patrick Oswald (born 1965) is an English playwright specialising in verse drama. He was a resident at Shakespeare's Globe theatre in London from 1998 to 2009. Early life Oswald was born the second of four children (eldest of thr ...

David Szalay David Szalay (; born 1974 in Montreal, Canada) is a Hungarian-English writer. Life Szalay was born in Montreal in 1974 to a Canadian mother and a Hungarian father. His family then moved to Beirut. They were forced to leave Lebanon after the o ...

2017 *

Amy Liptrot Amy Liptrot is a Scottish journalist and author. She won the 2016 Wainwright Prize and the 2017 PEN/Ackerley Prize for her memoir '' The Outrun''. Biography Amy Liptrot grew up on a farm in Orkney and studied at the University of Edinburgh. ...

Ross Raisin Ross Raisin FRSL (born 1979) is a British novelist and short story writer."Ross Raisin"
Royal Society of Liter ...

* James Sheard 2018 *

Jenn Ashworth Jenn Ashworth is an English writer born in 1982 in Preston, Lancashire. In June 2018 Ashworth was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in its "40 Under 40" initiative. Education At the age of 11 Ashworth informed her parents th ...

Tash Aw Tash Aw , whose full name is Aw Ta-Shi (; born 4 October 1971) is a Malaysian writer living in London. Biography Born in 1971 in Taipei, Taiwan, to Malaysians, Malaysian parents, Tash Aw returned to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at the age of two, ...

Jessie Greengrass Jessie Greengrass (born 1982) is a British author. She won a Somerset Maugham Award and the Edge Hill Short Story Prize for her debut short story collection ''An Account of the Decline Of The Great Auk, According To One Who Saw It''. Education ...

* James Harpur *

Sudhir Hazareesingh Sudhir Hazareesingh, Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean, GCSK, Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (18 October 1961) is a Mauritian diaspora in the United Kingdom, British-Mauritian historian. He has been a fellow and Tutor in Politi ...

2019 *

Kathryn Hughes Kathryn Hughes (born 1959) is a British academic, journalist and biographer. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Literature. Life She was educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University and the Univer ...

* Damian Le Bas *

Nadifa Mohamed Nadifa Mohamed (, ) (born 1981) is a Somali-British novelist. She featured on ''Granta'' magazine's list "Best of Young British Novelists" in 2013, and in 2014 on the Africa39 list of writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define ...

Johny Pitts Johny Pitts is an English television presenter, writer and photographer born in Firth Park, Sheffield in 1987. Biography He is of mixed-race heritage (his father Richie was from Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York City, New York and w ...

Gwendoline Riley Gwendoline Riley (born 19 February 1979) is a British writer. Early life and education Riley was born in London, England, in 1979. She attended Manchester Metropolitan University. Career Riley's first novel, ''Cold Water'', was named one of ...

2020s

2020 *

Luke Brown Carl Dennis Campbell Sr. (July 28, 1935 – November 12, 1997) was an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Luke "Big Boy" Brown. He is most noted for being one-half of a tag team in the 1950s and 1960s known as the Kentuc ...

Inua Ellams Inua Marc Mohammed Onore de Ellams II (born 23 October 1984) is a Nigerian-born British poet, playwright and performer. He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to the arts. E ...

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Ahdaf Soueif Ahdaf Soueif (; born 23 March 1950) is an Egyptian novelist and political and cultural commentator. Early life Soueif was born in Cairo, where she lives, and was educated in Egypt and England. She studied for a PhD in linguistics at the Universit ...

2021 *

Clare Pollard Clare Eve Pollard FRSL (born 1978, England) is a British writer (poet, novelist and playwright), literary translator and (prize jury) critic. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2024. Early life and education Poll ...

Guy Gunaratne Guy Gunaratne (born 1984) is a British journalist, filmmaker and novelist. In 2019, their first novel, ''In Our Mad and Furious City'', won the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Jhalak Prize and the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award. They are based bet ...

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Tom Stevenson Tom Stevenson (born 1951) is a British wine writer and critic. Stevenson is regarded as an expert on Champagne and Alsace wine. He has written 23 books. Career Stevenson began writing for Decanter magazine in 1981, and during the mid-1980s ...

Yara Rodrigues Fowler Yara Rodrigues Fowler is a British novelist of Brazilian origin. She was nominated for the ''Sunday Times'' Young Writer of the Year award, and she was also named by the ''Financial Times'' as one of the "most exciting young people”. In 2023, ...

2022 *

Linda Brogan Linda is an English feminine given name, derived from the Spanish word , meaning "pretty." Linda may also refer to: Names * Linda (given name), a female given name (including a list of people and fictional characters so named) * Linda (singer) ...

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Dylan Moore Dylan Scott Moore (born August 2, 1992), nicknamed "Dmoe", is an American professional baseball utility player for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2019. Amateur career Moore attended El Dorado High ...

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Ben Judah Ben Judah (born 1988) is a British political adviser, author and former journalist. Since February 2024, he has been a political adviser to David Lammy, who became Foreign Secretary in July of that year. Early and personal life The son of author ...

Alice Albinia Alice Albinia (born 1976) is an English journalist and author whose first book, '' Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River'' (2008), won several awards. Albinia was born in London and read English Literature at Cambridge University and Sou ...

References

{{Reflist Society of Authors awards British literary awards Awards established in 1944