The Martin Luther King Memorial Prize was instituted by novelist John Brunner and his wife and was awarded annually to a literary work published in the US or Britain that was deemed to improve interracial understanding,Derek Humphry ''Good Life, Good Death: The Memoir of a Right to Die Pioneer'' Carrel Books, 2017. "reflecting the ideals to which Dr. Martin Luther King dedicated his life".Norman Frankel "Martin Luther King Memorial Prize (U.K.)" ''The Grants Register 1985–1987'', Macmillan Publishers, 1984, p. 448. As of 1984, the author of the winning work was awarded £100 (). Brunner died in 1995, and it is uncertain if the award has continued.
Winners of the prize have included:
* ''Because They're Black'' (1972) by
Derek Humphry
Derek Humphry (born 29 April 1930) is a British-born American journalist and author notable as a proponent of legal assisted suicide and the right to die. In 1980, he co-founded the Hemlock Society and, in 2004, after that organization dissolv ...
and
Gus John
Augustine John (born 11 March 1945)Biography , Gus John website. is a A Dry White Season
''A Dry White Season'' is a 1989 American drama film directed by Euzhan Palcy and starring Donald Sutherland, Jürgen Prochnow, Marlon Brando, Janet Suzman, Zakes Mokae and Susan Sarandon. It was written by Colin Welland and Palcy, based upon A ...
'' (1980) by André Brink
* ''In a Dark Time'' (1984) edited by
Nicholas Humphrey
Nicholas Keynes Humphrey (born 27 March 1943) is an English neuropsychologist based in Cambridge, known for his work on evolution of primate intelligence and consciousness. He studied mountain gorillas with Dian Fossey in Rwanda; he was the fi ...
and
Robert Lifton
Robert Jay Lifton (born May 16, 1926) is an American psychiatrist and author, chiefly known for his studies of the psychological causes and effects of wars and political violence, and for his theory of thought reform. He was an early proponent of ...
Caryl Phillips
Caryl Phillips (born 13 March 1958) is a Kittitian-British novelist, playwright and essayist. Best known for his novels (for which he has won multiple awards), Phillips is often described as a Black Atlantic writer, since much of his fictional ...
* ''Behind the Frontlines: Journey into Afro-Britain'' (1988) by
British Council
The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...
, Literature Matters.
* ''Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63'' (1988) by
Taylor Branch
Taylor Branch (born January 14, 1947) is an American author and historian who wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning trilogy chronicling the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and much of the history of the American civil rights movement. The final volume o ...
, 1989 MLK Prize (and 1989
Pulitzer Prize for History
The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by Columbia University, is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished book about the history ...