The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year 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. , it represents over 12,000 members and as ...

. Set up by

William Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

in 1947 the awards enable young writers to enrich their work by gaining experience in foreign countries. The awards go to writers under the age of 30 with works published in the year before the award; the work can be either non-fiction, fiction or poetry. Since 1964 multiple winners have usually been chosen in the same year. In 1975 and in 2012 the award was not given.

List of winners

2020s

2022 * Stephanie Sy-Quia for ''Amnion'' (Granta, Granta Poetry) *

Tice Cin Tice may refer to: Geography * Tice, Florida, United States, a census-designated place * Tice, Illinois, United States, an unincorporated community * Tice (wetlands), wetlands in Slovakia People * Austin Tice (born 1981), former U.S. Marine Cor ...

for ''Keeping the House'' (And Other Stories) *

Lucia Osborne-Crowley Lucia Osborne-Crowley is a British–Australian writer, living in London. She has written two books about how trauma affects the body. Early life and education Osborne-Crowley was born in London and raised in Brisbane and Sydney, Australia. She ...

for ''My Body Keeps Your Secrets'' (Indigo Press) * Caleb Azumah Nelson for ''Open Water'' (Penguin Random House/Viking) * Maia Elsner for ''Overrun by Wild Boars'' (Flipped Eye Publishing) 2021 *

Lamorna Ash Lamorna Ash is a British writer and education specialist. Her first book, ''Dark, Salt, Clear: Life in a Cornish Fishing Town'', won the Somerset Maugham Award in 2021. Biography Ash attended St Paul's Girls' School and read English at Oxford ...

for ''Dark, Salt, Clear'' (Bloomsbury Publishing) * Isabelle Baafi for ''Ripe'' (Ignition Press) *

Akeem Balogun Akeem is a name of Arabic origin, being a variation of ''Hakeem'', and commonly used in Africa and among the African diaspora. Persons with the name Akeem include: * Akeem Adams (1991–2013), Trinidadian footballer * Akeem Anifowoshe (1968–1994 ...

for ''The Storm'' (Okapi Books) * Graeme Armstrong for ''The Young Team'' (Pan Macmillan, Picador) * * * * * * * * * 2020 *

Alex Allison Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple pe ...

for ''The Art of the Body'' (Dialogue Books/

Little, Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ...

) * Oliver Soden for ''Michael Tippett: The Biography'' (

Weidenfeld & Nicolson Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd (established 1949), often shortened to W&N or Weidenfeld, is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It has been a division of the French-owned Orion Publishing Group since 1991. History George Weidenfeld ...

/Orion) * Roseanne Watt for ''Moder Dy'' (

Birlinn The birlinn ( gd, bìrlinn) or West Highland galley was a wooden vessel propelled by sail and oar, used extensively in the Hebrides and West Highlands of Scotland from the Middle Ages on. Variants of the name in English and Lowland Scots incl ...

/Polygon) * Amrou Al-Kadhi for ''Unicorn'' (

4th Estate Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

)

2010s

2019 * Raymond Antrobus for ''The Perseverance'' *

Damian Le Bas Damian Le Bas (30 January 1963, Sheffield – 9 December 2017, Worthing) was a British artist associated with the Outsider art, Outsider Art (or "Art Brut") label, as well a leading exponent of the "Roma Revolution" in art. Life Le Bas was of R ...

for ''The Stopping Places'' * Phoebe Power for ''Shrines of Upper Austria'' * Nell Stevens for ''Mrs Gaskell and Me'' 2018 * Kayo Chingonyi for ''Kumukanda'' * Fiona Mozley for ''

Elmet Elmet ( cy, Elfed), sometimes Elmed or Elmete, was an independent Brittonic kingdom between about the 5th century and early 7th century, in what later became the smaller area of the West Riding of Yorkshire then West Yorkshire, South Yorks ...

'' * Miriam Nash for ''All the Prayers in the House'' 2017 * Edmund Gordon for ''The Invention of Angela Carter'' * Melissa Lee-Houghton for ''Sunshine'' * Martin MacInnes for ''Infinite Ground'' 2016 * Jessie Greengrass for ''An Account Of The Decline Of The Great Auk, According To One Who Saw It'' *

Daisy Hay Daisy Hay is Associate Professor in English Literature and Life Writing at the University of Exeter and an author of non-fiction. Hay was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2018. Career Hay's research interests are in late e ...

for ''Mr & Mrs Disraeli: A Strange Romance'' * Andrew McMillan for ''Physical'' * Thomas Morris for ''We Don't Know What We're Doing'' * Jack Underwood for ''Happiness'' 2015 *

Jonathan Beckman Jonathan may refer to: *Jonathan (name), a masculine given name Media * ''Jonathan'' (1970 film), a German film directed by Hans W. Geißendörfer * ''Jonathan'' (2016 film), a German film directed by Piotr J. Lewandowski * ''Jonathan'' (2018 ...

for ''How to Ruin a Queen: Marie Antoinette, the Stolen Diamonds and the Scandal that Shook the French Throne'' * Liz Berry for ''Black Country'' * Ben Brooks for ''Lolito'' * Zoe Pilger for ''Eat My Heart Out'' 2014 *

Nadifa Mohamed Nadifa Mohamed ( so, Nadiifa Maxamed, ar, نظيفة محمد) (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 un ...

for ''

The Orchard of Lost Souls ''The Orchard of Lost Souls'' is a 2013 novel by the Somali-British author Nadifa Mohamed. It is set in Somalia on the eve of the civil war. Her second book, coming four years after her award-winning debut work '' Black Mamba Boy'' (2009), it wa ...

'' *

Daisy Hildyard Daisy, Daisies or DAISY may refer to: Plants * '' Bellis perennis'', the common daisy, lawn daisy or English daisy, a European species Other plants known as daisy * Asteraceae, daisy family ** ''Euryops chrysanthemoides'', African bush daisy ** ...

for ''Hunters in the Snow Grass'' * Amy Sackville for ''Orkney'' 2013 * Ned Beauman for ''The Teleportation Accident'' *

Abi Curtis Abi Curtis is a poet, writer, and lecturer at York St John University. Biography Abi Curtis received a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Sussex, and went on to teach there until 2010. She is currently Professor of Creat ...

for ''The Glass Delusion'' *

Joe Stretch Joe Stretch (born 7 January 1982) is an English writer and singer. His first novel, ''Friction'', was published by Vintage Books at Random House in 2008. His second novel, ''Wildlife'', was published in 2009. His visceral, savage writing style has ...

for ''The Adult'' * Lucy Wood for ''Diving Belles'' 2012 * No Award 2011 * Miriam Gamble for ''The Squirrels Are Dead'' * Alexandra Harris for ''Romantic Moderns'' * Adam O'Riordan for ''In the Flesh'' 2010 * Jacob Polley for ''Talk of the Town'' *

Helen Oyeyemi Helen Oyeyemi FRSL (born 10 December 1984) is a British novelist and writer of short stories. Life Oyeyemi was born in Nigeria and was raised in Lewisham, South London from when she was four. Oyeyemi wrote her first novel, '' The Icarus Girl' ...

for ''White is for Witching'' * Ben Wilson for ''What Price Liberty?''

2000s

2009 * Adam Foulds for ''The Broken Word'' * Alice Albinia for ''Empires of the Indus'' * Rodge Glass for ''Alasdair Gray: A Secretary's Biography'' * Henry Hitchings for ''The Secret Life of Words'' * Thomas Leveritt for ''The Exchange-Rate Between Love and Money'' *

Helen Walsh Helen Walsh (born 1976) is an English novelist and film director. Her novels include ''Brass'', which won a Betty Trask Award, and ''Once Upon a Time in England'', which won a Somerset Maugham Award. Personal life Walsh was born in Warrington, ...

for ''Once Upon a Time in England'' 2008 * Steven Hall for '' The Raw Shark Texts'' *

Nick Laird Nicholas Laird (born 1975) is a Northern Irish novelist and poet. Education Laird was born in Cookstown, County Tyrone, where he attended the local comprehensive school. He then gained entry to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he initia ...

for ''On Purpose'' *

Gwendoline Riley Gwendoline Riley (born 1979) is an English 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 the five o ...

for ''Joshua Spassky'' * Adam Thirlwell for ''Miss Herbert'' (US title: ''The Delighted States'') 2007 * Horatio Clare for ''Running For The Hills'' * James Scudamore for ''The Amnesia Clinic'' 2006 *

Chris Cleave Chris Cleave (born 1973) is a British writer and journalist. Biography Cleave was born in London on May 14, 1973, brought up in Cameroon and Buckinghamshire, and educated at Balliol College, Oxford where he studied psychology. He lives in the ...

for '' Incendiary'' *

Zadie Smith Zadie Smith FRSL (born Sadie; 25 October 1975) is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel, ''White Teeth'' (2000), immediately became a best-seller and won a number of awards. She has been a tenured professor ...

for ''

On Beauty ''On Beauty'' is a 2005 novel by British author Zadie Smith, loosely based on ''Howards End'' by E. M. Forster. The story follows the lives of a mixed-race British/American family living in the United States, addresses ethnic and cultural diff ...

'' *

Owen Sheers Owen Sheers (born 20 September 1974) is a Welsh poet, author, playwright and television presenter. He was the first writer in residence to be appointed by any national rugby union team. Early life Owen Sheers was born in Suva, Fiji in 1974, and ...

for ''Skirrid Hill'' 2005 * Justin Hill for ''Passing Under Heaven'' * Maggie O'Farrell for ''The Distance Between Us'' 2004 *

Charlotte Mendelson Charlotte Jane Mendelson (born 1 November 1972) is an English novelist and editor. She was placed 60th on the Independent on Sunday ''Pink List 2007''. Biography Charlotte Mendelson was born on 1 November 1972 in London, the daughter of a barrist ...

for ''Daughters of Jerusalem'' *

Mark Blayney Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

for ''Two Kinds of Silence'' * Robert Macfarlane for ''

Mountains of the Mind ''Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination'' is a book by British writer Robert Macfarlane published in 2003 about the history of the human fascination with mountains. The book takes its title from a line by the poet Gerard Manley Hopk ...

'' 2003 * William Fiennes for ''The Snow Geese'' * Hari Kunzru for ''The Impressionist'' *

Jon McGregor Jon McGregor (born 1976) is a British novelist and short story writer. In 2002, his first novel was longlisted for the Booker Prize, making him then the youngest ever contender. His second and fourth novels were longlisted for the Booker Prize ...

for ''

If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things ''If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things'' is British writer Jon McGregor's first novel, which was first published by Bloomsbury in 2002. It portrays a day in the life of a suburban British street, with the plot alternately following the lives of t ...

'' 2002 * Charlotte Hobson for ''Black Earth City'' *

Marcel Theroux Marcel Raymond Theroux (born 13 June 1968) is a British-American novelist and broadcaster. He wrote ''A Stranger in The Earth'' and ''The Confessions of Mycroft Holmes: A Paper Chase,'' for which he won the Somerset Maugham Award in 2002. His t ...

for '' The Paperchase'' 2001 * Edward Platt for ''

Leadville The City of Leadville is a statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 2,602 at the 2010 census and an estimated ...

'' * Ben Rice for ''

Pobby and Dingan ''Pobby and Dingan'' is a novella by English author Ben Rice, which first appeared in issue 70 of ''Granta'' in Summer 2000 and published in book form later that year. It was joint winner of the 2001 Somerset Maugham Award and shortlisted for ...

'' 2000 * Bella Bathurst for ''The Lighthouse Stevensons'' *

Sarah Waters Sarah Ann Waters (born 21 July 1966) is a Welsh novelist. She is best known for her novels set in Victorian society and featuring lesbian protagonists, such as '' Tipping the Velvet'' and '' Fingersmith''. Life and education Early life Sa ...

for '' Affinity''

1990s

1999 *

Andrea Ashworth Andrea Ashworth (born 1969) is an English writer and academic, known for her memoir ''Once in a House on Fire'', which won the Somerset Maugham Award from the Society of Authors in 1999. Early life and education Ashworth was born in Manchester ...

for ''Once in a House on Fire'' *

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 poet ...

for ''The Boy from the Chemist is Here to See You'' *

Giles Foden Giles Foden (born 11 January 1967)George Stade and Karen Karbiener (eds), ''Encyclopaedia of British Writers, 1800 to the Present'', 2nd edn, Infobase Publishing, 2010, p. 176. is an English author, best known for his novel '' The Last King of ...

for ''

The Last King of Scotland ''The Last King of Scotland'' is a novel by journalist Giles Foden, published by Faber and Faber in 1998. Focusing on the rise of Ugandan President Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and pol ...

'' *

Jonathan Freedland Jonathan Saul Freedland (born 25 February 1967) is a British journalist who writes a weekly column for ''The Guardian''. He presents BBC Radio 4's contemporary history series ''The Long View''. Freedland also writes thrillers, mainly under the ...

for '' Bring Home the Revolution'' 1998 * Rachel Cusk for ''

The Country Life ''The Country Life'' is a 1997 comedic novel by Rachel Cusk that draws on Stella Gibbons's ''Cold Comfort Farm'' and Charlotte Brontë's ''Jane Eyre''. It won a 1998 Somerset Maugham Award. Description The novel is a comedy that draws on both '' ...

'' *

Jonathan Rendall Jonathan Rendall (11 June 1964 – c. 23 January 2013) was a British writer. He won the Somerset Maugham Award. Life Rendall was born in Oxford and adopted as a baby. He lived his childhood in Ashtead, Surrey and much of his teenage years in Gr ...

for ''This Bloody Mary Is the Last Thing I Own'' * Kate Summerscale for ''The Queen of Whale Cay'' * Robert Twigger for '' Angry White Pyjamas'' 1997 *

Rhidian Brook Rhidian Brook (born 1964) is a Welsh novelist, screenwriter and broadcaster. Biography Brook was born in Tenby in 1964. He attended Churcher's College in Hampshire, leaving in 1982. His first novel, ''The Testimony Of Taliesin Jones'' (HarperCol ...

for ''The Testimony of Taliesin Jones'' * Kate Clanchy for ''Slattern'' * Philip Hensher for ''Kitchen Venom'' * Francis Spufford for ''I May Be Some Time'' 1996 * Katherine Pierpoint for ''Truffle Beds'' * Alan Warner for ''Morvern Callar'' 1995 * Patrick French for ''Younghusband'' * Simon Garfield for ''The End of Innocence'' * Kathleen Jamie for ''The Queen of Sheba'' * Laura Thompson (British author), Laura Thompson for ''The Dogs'' 1994 * Jackie Kay for ''Other Lovers'' * A. L. Kennedy for ''Looking For the Possible Dance'' * Philip Marsden for ''Crossing Place'' 1993 * Dea Birkett for ''Jella'' * Duncan McLean (writer), Duncan McLean for ''Bucket of Tongues'' * Glyn Maxwell for ''Out of the Rain'' 1992 * Geoff Dyer for ''But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz, But Beautiful'' * Lawrence Norfolk for ''Lemprière's Dictionary'' * Gerard Woodward for ''Householder'' 1991 * Peter Benson (author), Peter Benson for ''The Other Occupant'' * Lesley Glaister for ''Honour Thy Father'' * Helen Simpson (author), Helen Simpson for ''Four Bare Legs in a Bed'' 1990 * Mark Hudson (author), Mark Hudson for ''Our Grandmothers' Drums'' * Sam North for ''The Automatic Man'' * Nicholas Shakespeare for ''The Vision of Elena Silves''

1980s

1989 * Rupert Christiansen for ''Romantic Affinities'' * Alan Hollinghurst for ''The Swimming Pool Library'' * Deirdre Madden for ''The Birds of the Innocent Wood'' 1988 * Jimmy Burns (writer), Jimmy Burns for ''The Land That Lost Its Heroes'' * Carol Ann Duffy for ''Selling Manhattan'' * Matthew Kneale for ''Whore Banquets'' 1987 * Stephen Gregory (author), Stephen Gregory for ''The Cormorant'' * Janni Howker for ''Isaac Campion'' * Andrew Motion for ''The Lamberts'' 1986 * Patricia Ferguson (author), Patricia Ferguson for ''Family Myths and Legends'' * Adam Nicolson for ''Frontiers'' * Tim Parks for ''Tongues of Flame'' 1985 * Blake Morrison for ''Dark Glasses'' * Jeremy Reed (writer), Jeremy Reed for ''By the Fisheries'' * Jane Rogers (novelist), Jane Rogers for ''Her Living Image'' 1984 * Peter Ackroyd for ''The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde'' * Timothy Garton Ash for ''The Polish Revolution: Solidarity'' * Sean O'Brien (writer), Sean O'Brien for ''The Indoor Park'' 1983 * Lisa St Aubin de Teran for ''Keepers of the House'' 1982 * William Boyd (writer), William Boyd for ''A Good Man in Africa (novel), A Good Man in Africa'' * Adam Mars-Jones for ''Lantern Lecture'' 1981 * Julian Barnes for ''Metroland (book), Metroland'' * Clive Sinclair (author), Clive Sinclair for ''Hearts of Gold'' * A. N. Wilson for ''The Healing Art'' 1980 * Max Hastings for ''Bomber Command'' * Christopher Reid (writer), Christopher Reid for ''Arcadia'' * Humphrey Carpenter for ''The Inklings''

1970s

1979 * Helen Hodgman for ''Jack & Jill'' * Sara Maitland for ''Daughter of Jerusalem'' 1978 * Tom Paulin for ''A State of Justice'' * Nigel Williams (author), Nigel Williams for ''My Life Closed Twice'' 1977 * Richard Holmes (biographer), Richard Holmes for ''Shelley: The Pursuit'' 1976 * Dominic Cooper (author), Dominic Cooper for ''The Dead of Winter'' * Ian McEwan for ''First Love, Last Rites'' 1975 * No Award 1974 * Martin Amis for ''The Rachel Papers'' 1973 * Peter Prince for ''Play Things'' * Paul Strathern for ''A Season in Abyssinia'' * Jonathan Street for ''Prudence Dictates'' 1972 * Douglas Dunn for ''Terry Street'' * Gillian Tindall for ''Fly Away Home'' 1971 * Susan Hill for ''I'm the King of the Castle (novel), I'm the King of the Castle'' * Richard Barber for ''The Knight and Chivalry'' * Michael Hastings (playwright), Michael Hastings for ''Tussy Is Me'' 1970 * Jane Gaskell for ''A Sweet Sweet Summer'' * Piers Paul Read for ''Monk Dawson (novel), Monk Dawson''

1960s

1969 * Angela Carter for ''Several Perceptions'' 1968 * Paul Bailey (British writer), Paul Bailey for ''At The Jerusalem'' * Seamus Heaney for ''Death of a Naturalist'' 1967 * B. S. Johnson for ''Trawl'' * Andrew Sinclair for ''The Better Half'' 1966 * Michael Frayn for ''The Tin Men'' * Julian Mitchell for ''The White Father'' 1965 * Peter Everett (author), Peter Everett for ''Negatives'' 1964 * Dan Jacobson for ''Time of Arrival'' * John le Carré for ''The Spy Who Came In From the Cold'' 1963 * David Storey for ''Flight Into Camden'' 1962 * Hugh Thomas (historian), Hugh Thomas for The Spanish Civil War (1961 book), ''The Spanish Civil War'' 1961 * V. S. Naipaul for ''Miguel Street'' 1960 * Ted Hughes for ''The Hawk in the Rain''

1950s

1959 * Thom Gunn for ''A Sense Of Movement'' 1958 * John Wain for ''Preliminary Essays'' 1957 * George Lamming for ''In the Castle of My Skin'' 1956 * Elizabeth Jennings (poet), Elizabeth Jennings for ''A Way of Looking'' 1955 * Kingsley Amis for ''Lucky Jim'' 1954 * Doris Lessing for ''Five Short Novels'' 1953 * Emyr Humphreys for ''Hear and Forgive'' 1952 * Francis King for ''The Dividing Stream'' 1951 * Roland Camberton for ''Scamp'' 1950 * Nigel Kneale for ''Tomato Cain & Other Stories''

1940s

1949 * Hamish Henderson for ''Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica'' 1948 * P. H. Newby for ''Journey to the Interior'' 1947 * A. L. Barker for ''Innocents''

References

{{Reflist 1947 establishments in the United Kingdom Awards established in 1947 Literary awards honouring young writers Society of Authors awards