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The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, organised and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation, is a leading award for fiction that was first awarded in 1987. The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental organisation working in the 53 countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. The aim of the Prize is to encourage new Commonwealth fiction, and to ensure that works of merit reach a wider audience outside their country of origin.

The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize is sponsored and administered by the Commonwealth Foundation with the support of the Macquarie Foundation in the Europe and South Asia and South East Asia and South Pacific regions. The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental body working to help civil society organisations promote democracy, development and cultural understanding in Commonwealth countries.

The Commonwealth Writers' Prize is established as a noted annual event in both the media and literary calendar. Since 2006, the regional sections of the Prize have been open for sponsorship and the Canada/ Caribbean and Africa regions are still seeking partners. It is established as a noted annual event in both the media and literary calendar. Last year, the CWP achieved a high level of exposure in both regional and international media. Over the past years media coverage has increased year-on-year and it is expected to continue to do so.

The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize is chaired by Justice Nicholas Hasluck, distinguished Australian author and leading judicial officer. Justice Hasluck has published ten works of fiction, including the award-winning novels The Bellarmine Jug and The Country Without Music.

Contents

Selection process

The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize covers the Commonwealth regions of Africa, Europe and South Asia, The Caribbean and Canada, and South East Asia and the South Pacific. Entries are first assessed by four regional panels of judges and the selection of the overall winner is made by a distinguished pan-Commonwealth panel. In each of the four regions of the Commonwealth two prizes of £1,000 are awarded: one for the Best Book and one for the Best First Book. The resulting eight regional winners’ books are then judged by the pan-Commonwealth panel. Authors win £10,000 for the overall Best Book and £5,000 for the Best First Book. Writers and judges come together in a final literary programme in a different Commonwealth country each year.

2008 Regional Winners

The eight regional winners for the 2008 Prize were announced in May 2008. The eight regional winners are;

Best Book Best First Book
Africa The Hangman's Game"
 – Karen King-Aribisala (Nigeria), Peepal Tree Press		 Imagine this
 – Sade Adeniran (Nigeria), SW Books
Canada and the
Caribbean		 The Book of Negroes
 – Lawrence Hill (Canada), HarperCollins Publishers		 The End of the Alphabet
 – C.S.Richardson (Canada), Doubleday
Europe and
South Asia		 Animal's People
 – Indra Sinha (India), Simon and Schuster		 A Golden Age
 – Tahmima Anam (Bangladesh), John Murray
South East Asia and
South Pacific		 The Time We Have Taken
 – Steven Carroll (Australia), HarperCollins		 The Anatomy of Wings
 – Karen Foxlee (Australia), University of Queensland Press

2008 Final Programme and Overall Winners

Each year the final programme of the Prize takes place in a different country. It also rotates around the different Commonwealth regions. The final programme comprises the judging for the overall Prize by the pan-Commonwealth panel and a series of readings and other public events by the regional prize-winning writers, who are all invited to attend.

This year, the final programme was hosted in South Africa from 12 to 18 May 2008 as part of and in partnership with the Franschhoek Literary Festival. The two overall winners were announced at an awards ceremony on the final night of the Franschoek Festival. In recent years, the final programme has also been held in Melbourne, Malta, Canada, Scotland, Ghana, India and Jamaica.

The distinguished 2008 Pan-Commonwealth panel of judges was chaired by Hon Justice Nicholas Hasluck AM (Chair of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize), and comprised of the four regional chairpersons and Colin Channer, organiser and founder of the Calabash Festival. The four regional chairpersons were: Professor Arthur Gakwandi (Africa); Dr Michael Bucknor(Canada and the Caribbean); Professor Makarand Paranjape (Europe and South Asia); and Dr Christine Prentice (South East Asia and South Pacific).

The 2008 Overall Winners are;

• Best Book: The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (Canada)

• Best First Book: A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam (Bangladesh)

Best Book Winners 1987-2008

Best First Book Winners 1987-2008

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ a b 2008 Winners announced
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