The WH Smith Literary Award was an award founded in 1959 by British high street retailer W H Smith. Its founding aim was stated to be to "encourage and bring international esteem to authors of the British Commonwealth"; originally open to all residents of the UK, the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

and the Republic of Ireland, it latterly admitted foreign works in translation and works by US authors. The final three winners were Americans ( Philip Roth, Donna Tartt and Richard Powers), and 2005 was the award's final year. The "W H Smith Illustration Award" ran from 1987 to 1994. The "W H Smith Mind-Boggling Book Award" for children's literature ran from 1993 to 1996. W H Smith currently sponsors the

National Book Awards Children's Book of the Year The National Book Awards Children's Book of the Year Award is a British literary award, given annually to works of children's literature as part of the Galaxy National Book Awards. It was established in 1996, replacing the British Illustrated Ch ...

(the "British Children's Book Award" through 2009).

Winners

1959

Patrick White Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was a British-born Australian writer who published 12 novels, three short-story collections, and eight plays, from 1935 to 1987. White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, ...

, '' Voss''
1960

Laurie Lee Laurence Edward Alan "Laurie" Lee, MBE (26 June 1914 – 13 May 1997) was an English poet, novelist and screenwriter, who was brought up in the small village of Slad in Gloucestershire. His most notable work is the autobiographical trilogy ...

, ''

Cider With Rosie ''Cider with Rosie'' is a 1959 book by Laurie Lee (published in the US as ''Edge of Day: Boyhood in the West of England'', 1960). It is the first book of a trilogy that continues with ''As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning'' (1969) and '' A ...

''
1961

Nadine Gordimer Nadine Gordimer (20 November 192313 July 2014) was a South African writer and political activist. She received the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, recognized as a writer "who through her magnificent epic writin ...

, ''

Friday's Footprint Friday is a day of the week. Friday or Fridays may also refer to: People with the name * Friday (surname) (includes a list of people with the name) * Friday (Arapaho chief) (ca. 1822–1881) interpreter and negotiator during the Treaties of Fo ...

''
1962

J. R. Ackerley Joe Randolph "J. R." Ackerley (4 November 1896 – 4 June 1967) was a British writer and editor. Starting with the BBC the year after its founding in 1927, he was promoted to literary editor of '' The Listener,'' its weekly magazine, where he ser ...

, ''

We Think the World of You ''We Think the World of You '' is a 1988 film directed by Colin Gregg and starring Gary Oldman and Alan Bates. It is adapted from the 1960 J.R. Ackerley novel of the same name. It was produced by Tomasso Jandelli and Cinecom Pictures. Plot In po ...

''
1963

Gabriel Fielding Alan Gabriel Barnsley (pen name Gabriel Fielding, 25 March 1916 – 27 November 1986) was an English novelist whose works include: ''In the Time of Greenbloom'', ''The Birthday King'', ''Through Streets Broad and Narrow'' and ''The Women of Gui ...

, '' The Birthday King''
1964

Ernst H. Gombrich Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich (; ; 30 March 1909 – 3 November 2001) was an Austrian-born art historian who, after settling in England in 1936, became a naturalised British citizen in 1947 and spent most of his working life in the United King ...

, ''

Meditations on a Hobby-Horse ''Meditations'' () is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from AD 161 to 180, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the ''Meditations'' in Ko ...

''
1965 Leonard Woolf, ''

Beginning Again Beginning may refer to: * ''Beginning'' (album), by Pakho Chau * ''Beginning'' (play), a 2017 play by David Eldridge * ''Beginning'' (film), a Georgian-French drama film *"Beginning", a song by heavy metal band Kotipelto *"Beginning", a 2018 track ...

''
1966

R. C. Hutchinson Ray Coryton Hutchinson (23 January 1907 – 3 July 1975) was a best-selling British novelist. His posthumously published novel '' Rising'' (1976) was short-listed for the 1976 Booker Prize. He was born in Finchley, Middlesex and educated at ...

, '' A Child Possessed''
1967 Jean Rhys, '' Wide Sargasso Sea''
1968 V. S. Naipaul, '' The Mimic Men''
1969 Robert Gittings, ''

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...

''
1970 John Fowles, '' The French Lieutenant's Woman''
1971 Nan Fairbrother, ''

New Lives, New Landscapes New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

''
1972 Kathleen Raine, ''

The Lost Country ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

''
1973 Brian Moore, ''

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

''
1974 Anthony Powell, ''

Temporary Kings ''Temporary Kings'' is a novel by Anthony Powell, the penultimate in his twelve-volume novel, ''A Dance to the Music of Time''. It was published in 1973 by Heinemann and remains in print as does the rest of the sequence. ''Temporary Kings'' re ...

''
1975

Jon Stallworthy Jon Howie Stallworthy, (18 January 1935 – 19 November 2014) was a British literary critic and poet. He was Professor of English at the University of Oxford from 1992 to 2000, and Professor Emeritus in retirement. He was also a Fellow of Wolfs ...

, '' Wilfred Owen''
1976 Seamus Heaney, '' North''
1977

Ronald Lewin George Ronald Lewin CBE (11 October 1914 – 6 January 1984), later known as Ronald Lewin, was a British officer, publishing editor, radio producer and military historian. Education Lewin attended University of Oxford at The Queens College on an ...

, '' Slim: The Standardbearer''
1978 Patrick Leigh Fermor, '' A Time of Gifts''
1979

Mark Girouard Mark Girouard (7 October 1931 – 16 August 2022) was a British architectural historian. He was an authority on the country house, and Elizabethan and Victorian architecture. Life and career Girouard was born on 7 October 1931. He was educ ...

, '' Life in the English Country House''
1980

Thom Gunn Thomson William "Thom" Gunn (29 August 1929 – 25 April 2004) was an English poet who was praised for his early verses in England, where he was associated with The Movement, and his later poetry in America, even after moving towards a looser, ...

, ''

Selected Poems 1950–1975 Selection may refer to: Science * Selection (biology), also called natural selection, selection in evolution ** Sex selection, in genetics ** Mate selection, in mating ** Sexual selection in humans, in human sexuality ** Human mating strat ...

''
1981 Isabel Colegate, '' The Shooting Party''
1982 George Clare, ''

Last Waltz in Vienna ''Last Waltz in Vienna'' by George Clare (writer), George Clare (21 December 1920 – 26 March 2009) was the 1982 winner of The WH Smith Literary Award. The book, subtitled ''The Destruction of a Family 1842–1942'', tells the history and fate ...

''
1983

A. N. Wilson Andrew Norman Wilson (born 27 October 1950)"A. N. Wilson"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''.

, ''

Wise Virgin WISE may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * WISE (AM), a radio station licensed to Asheville, North Carolina *WISE-FM, a radio station licensed to Wise, Virginia * WISE-TV, a television station licensed to Fort Wayne, Indiana Education * ...

''
1984 Philip Larkin, ''

Required Writing In product development and process optimization, a requirement is a singular documented physical or functional need that a particular design, product or process aims to satisfy. It is commonly used in a formal sense in engineering design, includi ...

''
1985

David Hughes David Hughes may refer to: Arts *Dave Hughes (born 1970), Australian comedian *Dave Hughes (producer), American television producer and editor *David Hughes (illustrator), British illustrator *David Hughes (Emmerdale), fictional character in the I ...

, ''

The Pork Butcher ''The Pork Butcher'' is a novel by English writer David Hughes, first published in 1984, and winner of the 1984 Welsh Arts council prize and the 1985 WH Smith Literary Award. Outline Based by the massacre of the inhabitants of Oradour-sur-Glane ...

''
1986

Doris Lessing Doris May Lessing (; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British-Zimbabwean novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she remain ...

, ''

The Good Terrorist ''The Good Terrorist'' is a 1985 political novel written by the British novelist Doris Lessing. The book's protagonist is the naïve drifter Alice, who squats with a group of radicals in London and is drawn into their terrorist activities. ...

''
1987 Elizabeth Jennings, '' Collected Poems 1953–1985''
1988 Robert Hughes, '' The Fatal Shore''
1989 Christopher Hill, '' A Turbulent, Seditious and Factious People: John Bunyan and His Church''
1990

V. S. Pritchett Sir Victor Sawdon Pritchett (also known as VSP; 16 December 1900 – 20 March 1997) was a British writer and literary critic. Pritchett was known particularly for his short stories, collated in a number of volumes. His non-fiction works incl ...

, ''

A Careless Widow and Other Stories A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

''
1991

Derek Walcott Sir Derek Alton Walcott (23 January 1930 – 17 March 2017) was a Saint Lucian poet and playwright. He received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works include the Homeric epic poem ''Omeros'' (1990), which many critics view "as Walcot ...

, ''

Omeros ' is an epic poem by Saint Lucian writer Derek Walcott, first published in 1990. The work is divided into seven "books" containing a total of sixty-four chapters. Many critics view ''Omeros'' as Walcott's finest work. In 2022, it was included ...

''
1992 Thomas Pakenham, ''

The Scramble for Africa ''The Scramble for Africa: The White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912'' is a comprehensive history of the colonisation of African territory by European powers between 1876 to 1912 known as the Scramble for Africa. The book w ...

''
1993

Michèle Roberts Michèle Brigitte Roberts FRSL (born 20 May 1949) is a British writer, novelist and poet. She is the daughter of a French Catholic teacher mother (Monique Caulle) and English Protestant father (Reginald Roberts), and has dual UK–France nationa ...

, ''

Daughters of the House A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show relations between grou ...

''
1994

Vikram Seth Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has won several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Academy Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Award and Crosswor ...

, ''

A Suitable Boy ''A Suitable Boy'' is a novel by Vikram Seth, published in 1993. With 1,349 pages (1,488 pages in paperback), the English-language book is one of the longest novels published in a single volume. ''A Suitable Boy'' is set in a newly post-inde ...

''
1995 Alice Munro, ''

Open Secrets ''Open Secrets'' () is a book of short story, short stories by Alice Munro published by McClelland and Stewart in 1994 in literature, 1994. It was nominated for the 1994 Governor General's Awards, 1994 Governor General's Award for English Fiction ...

''
1996 Simon Schama, ''

Landscape and Memory A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

''
1997 Orlando Figes, '' A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution – 1891–1924''
1998 Ted Hughes, ''

Tales From Ovid ''Tales from Ovid'' is a poetical work written by the English poet Ted Hughes, published in 1997 by Faber and Faber. The book is a retelling of twenty-four tales from Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''. It won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award for 1 ...

''
1999

Beryl Bainbridge Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge (21 November 1932 – 2 July 2010) was an English writer from Liverpool. She was primarily known for her works of psychological fiction, often macabre tales set among the English working class. Bainbridge won the ...

, '' Master Georgie''
2000

Melvyn Bragg Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, (born 6 October 1939), is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is best known for his work with ITV as editor and presenter of ''The South Bank Show'' (1978–2010), and for the BBC Radio 4 documenta ...

, ''

The Soldier's Return ''The Soldier's Return'' is the first novel in a quartet written by Melvyn Bragg. Plot summary Sam Richardson returns to the small Cumbrian town of Wigton after fighting in Burma during the Second World War. The war has given Sam’s wife Ellen ...

''
2001 Philip Roth, '' The Human Stain''
2002 Ian McEwan, '' Atonement''
2003 Donna Tartt, '' The Little Friend''
2004 Richard Powers, '' The Time of Our Singing''
2005 Philip Roth, ''

The Plot Against America ''The Plot Against America'' is a novel by Philip Roth published in 2004. It is an alternative history in which Franklin D. Roosevelt is defeated in the presidential election of 1940 by Charles Lindbergh. The novel follows the fortunes of the R ...

WH Smith Mind-Boggling Book Award

For a few years, W H Smith also offered a children's book award. The judges were children between nine and twelve, and the intention was to promote books which were "accessible to children in content and price, as well as offering a gripping read." The winners were: 1993 Philip Ridley, '' Krindlekrax''
1994 Malorie Blackman, '' Hacker''
1995

Maggie Prince Maggie is a common short form of the name Magdalena, Magnolia, Margaret. Maggie may refer to: People Women * Maggie Adamson, Scottish musician * Maggie Aderin-Pocock (born 1968), British scientist * Maggie Alderson (born 1959), Aust ...

, '' Memoirs of a Dangerous Alien''
1996 Sharon Creech, ''

Walk Two Moons ''Walk Two Moons'' is a novel written by Sharon Creech, published by HarperCollins in 1994 and winner of the 1995 Newbery Medal. The novel was originally intended as a follow-up to Creech's previous novel ''Absolutely Normal Chaos''; but, the ide ...

References

{{reflist Commonwealth literary awards Awards established in 1959 1959 establishments in the United Kingdom Awards disestablished in 2005 2005 disestablishments in the United Kingdom British fiction awards