Goldsmiths Prize

For other awards with similar names, see Goldsmith Prize.

The Goldsmiths Prize
Awarded forInnovative or experimental novels
LocationUnited Kingdom and Ireland
Presented byGoldsmiths, University of London The New Statesman
Reward(s)£10,000
First awarded13 November 2013
Websitehttps://www.gold.ac.uk/goldsmiths-prize/ Edit this on Wikidata

The Goldsmiths Prize is a British literary award, founded in 2013 by Goldsmiths, University of London, in association with the New Statesman.[1] It is awarded annually to a piece of fiction that "breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form."[2][3] It is limited to citizens and residents of the United Kingdom and Ireland, and to novels published by presses based in the United Kingdom or Ireland. The winner receives £10,000.[4]

Tim Parnell of the Goldsmiths English department conceived and runs the prize, inspired by his research into Laurence Sterne and other eighteenth-century writers, like Denis Diderot, who experimented with the novel form.[5][2] The prize "casts its net wider than most other prizes" and intends to celebrate "creative daring," but resists the phrase "experimental fiction," because it implies "an eccentric deviation from the novel’s natural concerns, structures and idioms."[2][5]

To date, Rachel Cusk is the author best represented on the prize's shortlists, having been shortlisted four times for Outline (2014), Transit (2016), Kudos (2018), and Parade (2024). Nine authors have been shortlisted twice: Amy Arnold, Sara Baume, Will Eaves, Deborah Levy, Eimear McBride, Anakana Schofield, Ali Smith, Adam Thirwell, and Isabel Waidner.

Winners and shortlists

Key
(Blue ribbon) winner
shortlisted
Shortlisted and winning books (2013–2024)
Year Author Novel Publisher Notes
2024 Blue ribbon Rachel Cusk Parade Faber & Faber The shortlist was announced on 2 October, with the winner announced on 6 November.[6]
Mark Bowles All My Precious Madness Galley Beggar
Jonathan Buckley Tell Fitzcaraldo
Neel Mukherjee Choice Atlantic
Lara Pawson Spent Light CB Editions
Han Smith Portraits at the Palace of Creativity and Wrecking John Murray
2023 Blue ribbon Benjamin Myers Cuddy Bloomsbury The shortlist was announced on 4 October, with the winner announced on 8 November.[7]
Amy Arnold Lori & Joe Prototype
Kate Briggs The Long Form Fitzcarraldo Editions
H. Gareth Gavin Never Was Cipher Press
Richard Milward Man-Eating Typewriter White Rabbit
Adam Thirlwell The Future Future Cape
2022 Blue ribbon Natasha Soobramanien and Luke Williams Diego Garcia Fitzcarraldo Editions The shortlist was announced on 5 October, and the winner on 10 November.[8]
Mona Arshi Somebody Loves You And Other Stories
Sara Baume Seven Steeples Tramp Press
Maddie Mortimer Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies Picador
Helen Oyeyemi Peaces Faber & Faber
Yara Rodrigues Fowler there are more things Fleet
2021 Blue ribbon Isabel Waidner Sterling Karat Gold Peninsula Press The shortlist was announced on 6 October,[9] and the winner on 10 November.[4]
Claire-Louise Bennett Checkout 19 Jonathan Cape
Natasha Brown Assembly Hamish Hamilton
Keith Ridgway A Shock New Directions
Leone Ross This One Sky Day Faber and Faber
Rebecca Watson little scratch Faber and Faber
2020 Blue ribbon M. John Harrison The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again Gollancz The shortlist was announced on 14 October,[10] and the winner on 11 November.[11]
Paul Griffiths Mr Beethoven Henningham Family Press
Xiaolu Guo A Lover's Discourse Chatto & Windus
DBC Pierre Meanwhile in Dopamine City Faber
Monique Roffey The Mermaid of Black Conch Peepal Tree Press
Anakana Schofield Bina Fleet
2019 Blue ribbon Lucy Ellmann Ducks, Newburyport Galley Beggar Press The shortlist was announced on 2 October,[12] and the winner on 13 November.[13]
Isabel Waidner We Are Made of Diamond Stuff Dostoyevsky Wannabe
Vesna Main Good Day? Salt
Amy Arnold Slip of a Fish And Other Stories
Mark Haddon The Porpoise Chatto & Windus
Deborah Levy The Man Who Saw Everything Hamish Hamilton
2018 Blue ribbon Robin Robertson The Long Take Picador The shortlist was announced on 26 September,[14] and the winner on 14 November.[15]
Rachel Cusk Kudos Faber
Will Eaves Murmur CB Editions
Guy Gunaratne In Our Mad and Furious City Headline
Gabriel Josipovici The Cemetery in Barnes Carcanet
Olivia Laing Crudo Picador
2017 Blue ribbon Nicola Barker H(A)PPY William Heinemann The shortlist was announced on 27 September,[16] and the winner on 15 November 2017.[17]
Sara Baume A Line Made by Walking William Heinemann
Kevin Davey Playing Possum Aaargh! Press
Jon McGregor Reservoir 13 Fourth Estate
Gwendoline Riley First Love Granta
Will Self Phone Viking
2016 Blue ribbon Mike McCormack Solar Bones Tramp Press The shortlist was announced on 28 September,[18] and the winner on 9 November.[19]
Deborah Levy Hot Milk Hamish Hamilton
Sarah Ladipo Manyika Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun Cassava Republic Press
Anakana Schofield Martin John And Other Stories
Eimear McBride The Lesser Bohemians Faber and Faber
Rachel Cusk Transit Jonathan Cape
2015 Blue ribbon Kevin Barry Beatlebone Canongate The shortlist was announced on 1 October,[20] and the winner on 11 November.[21] All the authors on the shortlist were men.[22]
Richard Beard Acts of the Assassins Vintage
Magnus Mills The Field of the Cloth of Gold Bloomsbury Publishing
Tom McCarthy Satin Island Jonathan Cape
Max Porter Grief Is the Thing with Feathers Faber and Faber
Adam Thirlwell Lurid & Cute Jonathan Cape
2014 Blue ribbon Ali Smith How to Be Both Penguin The shortlist was announced on 1 October,[23] and the winner on 13 November.[24]
Rachel Cusk Outline Vintage
Will Eaves The Absent Therapist CB Editions
Howard Jacobson J Jonathan Cape
Paul Kingsnorth The Wake Unbound Publishing
Zia Haider Rahman In the Light of What We Know Picador
2013 Blue ribbon Eimear McBride A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing Galley Beggar Press The shortlist was announced on 1 October,[25][26] and the winner on 13 November.[27][28]
Philip Terry tapestry Reality Street
Jim Crace Harvest Picador
Lars Iyer Exodus Melville House
David Peace Red or Dead Faber and Faber
Ali Smith Artful Penguin Books

References

  1. ^ Alex Peake-Tomkinson (23 January 2013). "Goldsmiths launch £10,000 literature prize". The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  2. ^ a b c "About: Goldsmiths Prize". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  3. ^ Joshua Farrington (23 January 2013). "Goldsmiths launches £10,000 literary prize". The Bookseller. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  4. ^ a b Flood, Alison (10 November 2021). "Isabel Waidner wins Goldsmiths prize for 'mindbending' Sterling Karat Gold". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  5. ^ a b "The Goldsmiths Prize". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  6. ^ "2024 Prize". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  7. ^ "The Goldsmiths Prize". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  8. ^ Ellis, Lizzie. "Collaborative novel wins the Goldsmiths Prize 2022". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  9. ^ Ellen Peirson-Hagger (6 October 2021). "Goldsmiths Prize 2021 shortlist: The six most cutting-edge novelists writing today". newstatesman.com. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  10. ^ Flood, Alison (14 October 2020). "DBC Pierre's smartphone era novel leads Goldsmiths prize shortlist". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  11. ^ Alison Flood (11 November 2020). "'A literary masterpiece': M John Harrison wins Goldsmiths prize for innovative fiction". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  12. ^ Ellen Peirson-Hagger (2 October 2019). "Small literary presses dominate the Goldsmiths Prize shortlist". New Statesman. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  13. ^ Heloise Wood (13 November 2019). "Lucy Ellman 'masterpiece' wins Goldsmiths Prize". The Bookseller. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  14. ^ Adam Mars-Jones (26 September 2018). "Novel senses of new: the 2018 Goldsmiths prize for fiction shortlist". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  15. ^ Alison Flood (14 November 2018). "Robin Robertson wins Goldsmiths prize for innovative fiction with The Long Take". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  16. ^ Tom Gatti (2 November 2017). "The Back Half: Goldsmiths Prize Shortlist Special". New Statesman. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  17. ^ Laura Harding (15 November 2017). "Illuminated manuscript novel wins Goldsmiths Prize". Independent. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  18. ^ Morgan, Tom (28 September 2016). "Goldsmiths Prize 2016 shortlist - six works of fiction at its most novel". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  19. ^ Armitstead, Claire (9 November 2016). "Single sentence novel wins Goldsmiths prize for books that 'break the mould'". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  20. ^ Morgan, Tom (1 October 2015). "Goldsmiths Prize shortlist 2015". Goldsmiths. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  21. ^ Flood, Alison (11 November 2015). "Novel about John Lennon and primal screaming wins Goldsmiths prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  22. ^ Caines, Michael. "Not the Goldsmiths Prize?". TLS. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  23. ^ "The shortlist for the 2014 Goldsmiths Prize has been announced". New Statesman. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  24. ^ "Ali Smith wins Goldsmiths Prize for How to be Both". BBC News. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  25. ^ "Jim Crace makes Goldsmiths Prize shortlist". BBC News. 1 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  26. ^ "Shortlist 2013". Goldsmiths Prize. 1 October 2013. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  27. ^ "Debut novelist Eimear McBride wins £10,000 prize". London Evening Standard. 13 November 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  28. ^ "Eimear McBride wins inaugural Goldsmiths Prize for boldly original fiction". Goldsmith Prize website. 13 November 2013. Archived from the original on 16 November 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
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