Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Winners. Shortlists. News.

About the Literary Award - The Commonwealth Writers' Prize is organised and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation. It was first awarded in 1987. The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental organisation working in the 53 countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. The aim of this book award is to encourage new Commonwealth fiction, and to ensure that works of merit reach a wider audience outside their country of origin.

The Prize covers the Commonwealth regions of Africa, Europe and South Asia, The Caribbean and Canada, and South East Asia and the South Pacific. In Each of the four regions two prizes of £1,000 are awarded for the Best Book and for the Best First Book. Eight regional winners’ books are then judged by the A pan-Commonwealth panel. Authors win £10,000 for the overall Best Book and £5,000 for the Best First Book. Writers and judges come together in a final literary programme in a different Commonwealth country each year.

Hill's `Someone Knows My Name' Wins 10,000-Pound Commonwealth Prize for Book of the Year

hill_lawrence May 18--- Lawrence Hill (left) has won the top Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Someone Knows My Name: A Novel. The book' is written in the voice of an 18th-century West African named Aminata Diallo who is abducted from her village as an 11-year-old girl, becomes a slave in South Carolina, wins her freedom during the American Revolutionary War and finds her way back to Sierra Leone. Lawrence Hill's third novel was published in 2007 as The Book of Negroes in Canada (HarperCollins) and is known as Someone Knows My Name in the USA, the UK and Australia.

The book had previously won the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Canada and the Caribbean region) and the 2007 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. A #1 Canadian Bestseller, it was named one of the top 100 books of 2007 by The Globe and Mail. In the United States, Amazon.com listed Someone Knows My Name as one of top 100 books of the year.

The Canadian author received a 10,000-pound ($19,600 US) check for the Overall Best Book Award from South African Minister of Arts and Culture Z. Pallo Jordan in a ceremony today at the Franschhoek Literary Festival in South Africa.

Tahmima Anam (below right) of Bangladesh won the 5,000-pound Overall Best First Book prize for A Golden Age, a fictionalised account of her country's war for independence in 1971. anam_tahmima

Held each year by the intergovernmental Commonwealth Foundation, the contest aims to reward the best fiction written in English in the 53-member Commonwealth. The prize is meant to give the winners a global audience and to build understanding between cultures.

The contest is supported by the Macquarie Group Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Macquarie Group Ltd., Australia's largest investment bank.

2008 Regional Winners Announced- Animal's People, Finally Gets The Prize

The Regional winners for the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best Book Award and Best First Book Award have been announced. Four international judging panels in each Commonwealth region; Africa; Canada and the Caribbean, Europe and South Asia; and South East Asia and South Pacific have chos sinah_indra en the following books in each region from an impressive list of 320 entries.

The 2007 Man Booker Prize shortlisted, Indra Sinha's (left) Animal's People, has won Best Book for the Europe and East Asia section of the 2008 years Commonwealth Writers Prize. A Golden Age from the enigmatic Bangladeshi author Tahmima Anam , won the Best First Book in the region ahead of 2007 Costa Best First Novel Winner, What Was Lost from former postie, Catherine O' Flynn.

Nigerian Sade Adeniran's clever character driven book, Imagine This, won the African regions Best book with Best First Book going to fellow Nigerian, Karen King-Aribisala, for The Hangman's Game.

The Canada and Caribbean Best Book was won by Canadian Lawrence Hill's Someone Knows My Name: A Novel (Book of Negroes in Canada)Harper Collins Publishers and the Best First Book by another Canadian. CS Richardson's The End of the Alphabet ) the previous two titles are not available in the UK at present so links are to Amazon in Canada).

The winners from Australia and the South Pacific s Best Book region are not, too the best of my knowledge, available yet in the UK. Those wanting a copy of Steven Carrol's excellent The Time We Have Taken, (Harper Collins) or Best First Book, Karen Foxlee's', The Anatomy of Wings (University of Queensland Press) should arrange a holiday down under to purchase a copy. The Time We Have Taken, is shortlisted for Australia's prestigious 2008 Miles Franklin and The Anatomy of Wings, won the 2006 Queensland Premier Prize for Best Emerging Manuscript- now fully emerged I guess. KJP

Shortlisted books below.

2008 Regional Winners

Africa

Best Book: Karen King-Aribisala (Nigeria) The Hangman's Game Peepal Tree Press

Best First Book: Sade Adeniran (Nigeria) Imagine This SW Books

Canada and Caribbean (the 2 books regional winners are not currently available in UK so the links are to Amazon in Canada)

Best Book: Lawrence Hill (Canada)Someone Knows My Name: A Novel (Book of Negroes in Canada) Harper Collins Publishers

Best First Book: The End of the Alphabet CS Richardson (Canada) Doubleday Canada

Europe and South Asia

Best Book: Indra Sinha (India) Animal's People Simon and Schuster

Best First Book: Tahmima Anam (Bangladesh) A Golden Age John Murray

South East Asia and South Pacific

Best Book: Steven Carroll (Australia) The Time We Have Taken Harper Collins

Best First Book: Karen Foxlee (Australia) The Anatomy of Wings University of Queensland Press

2008 Shortlists

AFRICA

Best Book
Barbara Adair (South Africa) End Jacana Media
Ifeoma Chinwuba (Nigeria) Waiting for Maria Spectrum Books
Finuala Dowling(South Africa) Flyleaf Penguin Books SA
Karen King-Aribisala (Nigeria) The Hangman's Game Peepal Tree Press
Susan Mann (South Africa ) Quarter Tones Harvill Secker
Zakes Mda (South Africa) Cion Penguin Books SA

Best First Book
Sade Adeniran (Nigeria ) Imagine This SW Books
Ceridwen Dovey (South Africa) Blood Kin Penguin Books SA
Dayo Forster (Gambia) Reading the CeilingSimon and Schuster
Ken Kamoche (Kenya) A Fragile Hope (Salt Modern Fiction) Salt Publishing
Sumayya Lee (South Africa) The Story of Maha South Africa Kwela Books
Carel van der Merwe (South Africa) No Man's Land Umuzi

CANADA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Best Book
Gil Adamson (Canada) The Outlander House of Anansi Press
Erna Brodber (Jamaica) The Rainmaker's Mistake New Beacon Books
Lawrence Hill (Canada) Someone Knows My Name: A Novel (The Book of Negroes in Canda) HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Robert Hough (Canada) The Culprits Canada Random House Canada
Frances Itani (Canada) Remembering the Bones HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Michael Ondaatje (Canada) Divisadero Bloomsbury Publishing/ McClelland & Stewart

Best First Book
David Chariandy (Canada) Soucouyant Arsenal Pulp Press
Tish Cohen (Canada) Town House HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Arley McNeney (Canada) Post Thistledown Press
Ameen Merchant (Canada) The Silent Raga Douglas & McIntyre
C.S. Richardson (Canada) The End of the Alphabet Doubleday Canada
Neil Smith (Canada) Bang Crunch Knopf Canada

EUROPE AND SOUTH ASIA

Best Book
David Davidar (India )The Solitude Of Emperors Weidenfeld & Nicholson
Mohsin Hamid (Pakistan)The Reluctant Fundamentalist Viking, Penguin Books India PVT Ltd/Hamish Hamilton
Usha K.R. (India) Girl and a River, A Penguin Books India PVT Ltd
Hari Kunzru (UK) My RevolutionsHamish Hamilton
Nicholas Shakespeare (UK) Secrets of the Sea Harvill Secker
Indra Sinha (India ) Animal's People Simon and Schuster

Best First Book oflynn_catherine
Tahmima Anam (Bangladesh) A Golden Age John Murray
Priya Basil (UK) Ishq and Mushq Transworld Publishers
Shandana Minhas (UK) Tunnel Vision Roli Books
Catherine O'Flynn (left) (UK) What Was Lost Tindal Street Press
Jeremy Page (UK) Salt Viking, Penguin
JM Shaw (UK) The Illumination of Merton Browne Sceptre

SOUTH EAST ASIA AND SOUTH PACIFIC

Best Book Award
Steven Carroll (Australia) The Time We Have Taken HarperCollins
Sonya Hartnett (Australia) The Ghost's ChildPenguin Australia
Sarah Hopkins (Australia) The Crimes of Billy Fish ABC Books
Mireille Juchau (Australia) Burning In Giramondo
Michelle De Kretser (Australia) The Lost Dog Allen & Unwin
Alex Miller (Australia) Landscape of Farewell Allen & Unwin

Best First Book Award
Steven Conte (Australia) The Zookeepers War Australia Harper Collins
Karen Foxlee (Australia) The Anatomy of Wings Australia UQP
Sara Knox (Australia) The Orphan Gunner Giramondo
Carol Lefevre (Australia) Nights in the Asylum Picador
Marcella Polain (Australia) The Edge of the World Fremantle Press
Stephen Scourfield (Australia) Other Country Allen & Unwin

2007 Commonwealth Writers Prize Best Book Award

Mister Pip, by Lloyd Jones- left (New Zealand), Penguin

2007 Commonwealth Writers Prize Best First Book Award

Vandal Love, by D.Y. Bechard (Canada), Doubleday

2007 Regional Winners

Africa

Best Book: The Native Commissioner: A Novel , by Shaun Johnson (South Africa), Penguin Books
Best First Book: All We Have Left Unsaid, by Maxine Case (South Africa), Kwela Books

Canada and the Caribbean

Best Book: The Friends of Meager Fortune, by David Adams Richards (Canada), Doubleday Canada
Best First Book: Vandal Love, by D.Y. Bechard (Canada), Doubleday

Europe and South Asia

Best Book: The Perfect Man, by Naeem Murr (UK), Heinemann
Best First Book: In the Country of Men, by Hisham Matar (UK), Viking

South East Asia and South Pacific

Best Book: Mister Pip, by Lloyd Jones (New Zealand), Penguin
Best First Book: Tuvalu by Andrew O'Connor (Australia), Allen and Unwin

2007 Commonwealth Writers' Prize Shortlists

Africa

Best Book
shaun_johnson
The Native Commissioner: A Novel, by Shaun Johnson - photo right (South Africa), Penguin Books
What Kind of Child , by Ken Barris (South Africa), Kwela Books
Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria), Harper Collins
Wizard of the Crow, by Ngugi wa Thiong'o (Kenya), Random House UK
Playing in the Light: A Novel, by Zoe Wicomb (South Africa), Umuzi
Song of the Atman , by Ronnie Govender (South Africa), Jacana

Best First Book

All We Have Left Unsaid, by Maxime Case (South Africa), Kwela Books
Ice in the Lungs, by Gerald Kraak (South Africa), Jacana
A Life Elsewhere, by Segun Afolabi (Nigeria), Jonathan Cape
Room 207, by Kgebeti Moele (South Africa), Kwela Books
The Beggar's Sign Writer, by Louis Greenberg (South Africa), Umuzi
The Shadow Follows, by David Medalie (South Africa), Picador Africa

Canada and the Caribbean

Best Book

The Law Of Dreams, by Peter Behrens (Canada), House of Anansi Press
Chutney Power and Other Stories (Macmillan Caribbean Writers), by Willi Chen (Trinidad), Macmillan Caribbean
Fabrizio's Return, by Mark Frutkin (Canada), Knopf Canada
The Emperor's Children, by Claire Messud (Canada), Picador
The Unfortunate Marriage of Azeb Yitades, by Nega Mezlekia (Canada), Penguin Group (Canada)
The View from Castle Rock, by Alice Munro (Canada), Chatto and Windus
The Friends of Meager Fortune, by David Adams Richards (Canada), Doubleday Canada

Back to top

Best First Book

Baby Khaki's Wings, by Anar Ali (Canada), Viking
Vandal Love, by D.Y. Bechard (Canada), Doubleday
De Niro's Game, by Rawi Hage (Canada), House of Anansi Press
Fear of Stones and Other Stories (Macmillan Caribbean Writers), by Kei Miller (Jamaica), Macmillan Caribbean
Indigenous Beasts, by Nathan Sellyn (Canada), Raincoast Books
The Hour of Bad Decisions, by Russell Wangersky (Canada), Coteau Books

Europe and South Asia

Best Book
yasmin_crowther
Sacred Games, by Vikram Chandra (India), Penguin
Miss Webster and Cherif, by Patricia Duncker (UK), Bloomsbury
The Sweet and Simple Kind, by Yasmine Gooneratne (Sri Lanka), Perera Hussein
Carry Me Down , by M J Hyland (UK), Canongate
Black Swan Green, by David Mitchell (UK), Sceptre
The Perfect Man, by Naeem Murr (UK), Heinemann
The Testament of Gideon Mack, by James Robertson (UK), Hamish Hamilton

Best First Book

The Saffron Kitchen, by Yasmin Crowther- photo right (UK) Abacus/Little Brown
The Mathematics of Love, by Emma Darwin (UK) Headline/Review
This Time of Dying, by Reina James (UK) Portobello
Giraffe, by J M Ledgard (UK), Jonathan Cape
Londonstani, by Gautam Malkani (UK), Fourth Estate
In the Country of Men, by Hisham Matar (UK), Viking
The Amnesia Clinic, by James Scudamore (UK), Harvill Secker

South East Asia and South Pacific

Best Book

Ocean Roads, by James George (New Zealand), Huia
Theft: A Love Story, by Peter Carey (Australia), Knopf/Random House
Mister Pip, by Lloyd Jones (New Zealand), Penguin
Carpentaria, by Alexis Wright (Australia), Giramondo
The Fainter, by Damien Wilkins (New Zealand), Victoria University Press
Red Spikes, by Margo Lanagan - photo right(Australia), Allen and Unwin
Careless by Deborah Robertson (Australia), Picador

Back to top

Best First Book

Tuvalu by Andrew O'Connor (Australia), Allen and Unwin
Davey Darling by Paul Shannon (New Zealand), Penguin
The Fish & Chip Song, by Carl Nixon (New Zealand), Vintage
Long Road of the Junkmailer, by Patrick Holland (Australia), UQP
Poinciana, by Jane Turner Goldsmith (Australia), Wakefield

Best Book Winners 1987-2007

2007 - Lloyd Jones, Mister Pip

2006 - Kate Grenville, The Secret River

2005 - Andrea Levy, Small Island

2004 - Caryl Phillips, A Distant Shore

2003 - Austin Clarke, The Polished Hoe

2002 - Richard Flanagan, Gould's Book of Fish

2001 - Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang
2000 - John Maxwell Coetzee, Disgrace

1999 - Murray Bail, Eucalyptus (Panther)

1998 - Peter Carey, Jack Maggs

1997 - Earl Lovelace, Salt: A World History

1996 - Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance

1995 - Louis de Bernières, Captain Corelli's Mandolin

1994 - Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy

1993 - Alex Miller, The Ancestor Game (A Penguin Original)

1992 - Rohinton Mistry, Such a Long Journey

1991 - David Malouf, The Great World

1990 - Mordecai Richler, Solomon Gursky Was Here

1989 - Janet Frame, The Carpathians

1988 - Festus Iyayi, Heroes (African Writers)
1987 - Olive Senior, Summer Lightning and Other Stories (Longman Caribbean Writers)

Best First Book Winners 1987-2007

2007 - D. Y. Béchard, Vandal Love

2006 - Mark McWatt, Suspended Sentences

2005 - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Purple Hibiscus

2004 - Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: Children's Edition

2003 - Sarah Hall, Haweswater

2002 - Manu Herbstein, Ama, Ama: A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade

2001 - Zadie Smith, White Teeth
2000 - Jeffrey Moore, Prisoner in a Red-Rose Chain

1999 - Kerri Sakamoto, The Electrical Field

1998 - Tim Wynveen, Angels Falls

1997 - Ann-Marie MacDonald, Fall on Your Knees
1996 - Vikram Chandra, Red Earth and Pouring Rain

1995 - Adib Khan, Seasonal Adjustments

1994 - Keith Oatley, The Case of Emily V

1993 - Gita Hariharan, The Thousand Faces of Night

1992 - Robert Antoni, Divina Trace

1991 - Pauline Melville, Shape-shifter (Picador Books)

1990 - John Cranna, Visitors
1989 - Bonnie Burnard, Women of Influence

List of regional Winners 1987-2007