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The 2008 Commonwealth Writers Prize overall winner, Lawrence Hill at the National Archives in Kew, London leafing through the original 18th century document, The Book of Negroes.

Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2009 open for entries

29 August 2008

Best Book and Best First Book categories are open to writers from across the Commonwealth

The 2009 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the global prize for fiction for both established and new writers, has opened for entries.

The two categories - Best Book and Best First Book, which are worth £10,000 and £5,000 respectively to the overall winners - are open to published writers from across the 53 countries of the Commonwealth.

The judging is unlike that of any other major literary award, with 12 judges from different countries having a say in the choice of winning books. Judging takes place in two phases, with panels in four regions - Africa; Canada and the Caribbean; Europe and South Asia; and South-East Asia and the Pacific - choosing two winners in the Best Book and Best First Book categories.

These eight regional winners each receive £1,000, and are invited to participate in a final programme held in a Commonwealth country - next May, for 2009 Prize - where the two overall winners are decided by a pan-Commonwealth panel.

Entries

Entries for the Prize should be made by publishers.

Last year more than 300 entries were received, with the regional winners emerging from Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, India and Nigeria.

In 2008, the two overall winners were announced at the Franschhoek Literary Festival in South Africa.

Best Book went to Canadian writer Lawrence Hill, for his epic novel ‘The Book of Negroes’, and Best First Book went to Bangladeshi writer Tahmima Anam for her novel ‘A Golden Age’.

Ms Anam said winning the award was more than just prestige. “I'm honoured and humbled to be the first ever Bangladeshi winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize,” she said.

“I wrote ‘A Golden Age’ because I wanted the story of the Bangladesh war to reach an international audience. It is a story of great tragedy, but also represents a moment of hope and possibility for my sometimes troubled country.”

In July, when Mr Hill came to London to collect his prizes he said that winning the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize widened his publishing market, something he had been pushing towards for a long time. He considered winning the Prize the biggest success of his life.

Now in its 23rd year, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize is organised and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation with the support of the Macquarie Group Foundation.

Entries for the Prize should be made by publishers. For entry forms and more information, go to:

http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/culturediversity/writersprize/cwp/2009%20prize/