Somerset Maugham Award

The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors.

Set up by William Somerset Maugham 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 35 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

1940s

Somerset Maugham Award winners, 1947–1949
Year Author Title Publisher
1947 A.L. Barker Innocents Hogarth Press
1948 P.H. Newby Journey to the Interior Jonathan Cape
1949 Hamish Henderson Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica John Lehmann

1950s

Somerset Maugham Award winners, 1950–1959
Year Author Title Publisher Ref.
1950 Nigel Kneale Tomato Cain & Other Stories Collins
1951 Roland Camberton Scamp John Lehmann
1952 Francis King The Dividing Stream Longman
1953 Emyr Humphreys Hear and Forgive Gollancz
1954 Doris Lessing Five Short Novels Michael Joseph
1955 Kingsley Amis Lucky Jim Gollancz
1956 Elizabeth Jennings A Way of Looking Deutsch
1957 George Lamming In the Castle of My Skin Michael Joseph
1958 John Wain Preliminary Essays Macmillan
1959 Thom Gunn A Sense of Movement Faber and Faber

1960s

Somerset Maugham Award winners, 1960–1969
Year Author Title Publisher Ref.
1960 Ted Hughes The Hawk in the Rain Faber and Faber
1961 V.S. Naipaul Miguel Street Deutsch
1962 Hugh Thomas The Spanish Civil War Eyre & Spottiswoode
1963 David Storey Flight Into Camden Longman
1964 Dan Jacobson Time of Arrival Weidenfeld
John Le Carré The Spy Who Came in from the Cold Gollancz
1965 Peter Everett Negatives Jonathan Cape
1966 Michael Frayn The Tin Men Collins
1966 Julian Mitchell The White Father Constable
1967 B.S. Johnson Trawl Secker & Warburg
Andrew Sinclair The Better Half Jonathan Cape
1968 Paul Bailey At The Jerusalem Jonathan Cape
Seamus Heaney Death of a Naturalist Faber and Faber
1969 Angela Carter Several Perceptions Heinemann

1970s

Somerset Maugham Award winners, 1970–1979
Year Author Title Publisher Ref.
1970 Jane Gaskell A Sweet Sweet Summer Hodder & Stoughton
Piers Paul Read Monk Dawson Secker & Warburg
1971 Richard Barber The Knight and Chivalry Longman
Michael Hastings Tussy Is Me Weidenfeld
Susan Hill I’m the King of the Castle Hamish Hamilton
1972 Douglas Dunn Terry Street Faber and Faber
Gillian Tindall Fly Away Home Hodder & Stoughton
1973 Peter Prince Play Things Gollancz
Paul Strathern A Season in Abyssinia Macmillan
Jonathan Street Prudence Dictates Hart-Davis
1974 Martin Amis The Rachel Papers Jonathan Cape
1975 No Award
1976 Dominic Cooper The Dead of Winter Chatto & Windus
Ian McEwan First Love, Last Rites Jonathan Cape
1977 Richard Holmes Shelley: The Pursuit Quartet Books
1978 Tom Paulin A State of Justice Faber and Faber
Nigel Williams My Life Closed Twice Secker & Warburg
1979 Helen Hodgman Jack & Jill Duckworth
Sara Maitland Daughter of Jerusalem Blond & Briggs

1980s

Somerset Maugham Award winners, 1980–1989
Year Author Title Publisher Ref.
1980 Humphrey Carpenter The Inklings Allen & Unwin
Max Hastings Bomber Command Michael Joseph
Christopher Reid Arcadia Oxford University Press
1981 Julian Barnes Metroland Jonathan Cape
Clive Sinclair Hearts of Gold Allison & Busby
A.N. Wilson The Healing Art Secker & Warburg
1982 William Boyd A Good Man in Africa Hamish Hamilton
Adam Mars-Jones Lantern Lecture Faber and Faber
1983 Lisa St Aubin de Teran Keepers of the House Jonathan Cape
1984 Peter Ackroyd The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde Hamish Hamilton
Timothy Garton Ash The Polish Revolution: Solidarity Jonathan Cape
Sean O'Brien The Indoor Park Bloodaxe Books
1985 Blake Morrison Dark Glasses Chatto & Windus
Jeremy Reed By the Fisheries Jonathan Cape
Jane Rogers Her Living Image Faber and Faber
1986 Patricia Ferguson Family Myths and Legends Andre Deutsch
Adam Nicolson Frontiers Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Tim Parks Tongues of Flame Heinemann
1987 Stephen Gregory The Cormorant Heinemann
Janni Howker Isaac Campion Julia MacRae
Andrew Motion The Lamberts Chatto & Windus
1988 Jimmy Burns The Land That Lost Its Heroes Bloomsbury
Carol Ann Duffy Selling Manhattan Anvil
Matthew Kneale Whore Banquets Gollancz Heinemann
1989 Rupert Christiansen Romantic Affinities Bodley Head
Alan Hollinghurst The Swimming-Pool Library Chatto & Windus
Deirdre Madden The Birds of the Innocent Wood Faber and Faber

1990s

Somerset Maugham Award winners, 1990–1999
Year Author Title Publisher Ref.
1990 Mark Hudson Our Grandmothers' Drums Secker & Warburg
Sam North The Automatic Man Secker & Warburg
Nicholas Shakespeare The Vision of Elena Silves Collins Harvill
1991 Peter Benson The Other Occupant Macmillan
Lesley Glaister Honour Thy Father Secker & Warburg
Helen Simpson Four Bare Legs in a Bed Heinemann
1992 Geoff Dyer But Beautiful Jonathan Cape
Lawrence Norfolk Lempriere’s Dictionary S. Stevenson
Gerard Woodward Householder Chatto & Windus
1993 Dea Birkett Jella Gollancz
Glyn Maxwell Out of the Rain Bloodaxe Books
Duncan McLean Bucket of Tongues Secker & Warburg
1994 Jackie Kay Other Lovers Bloodaxe Books
A.L. Kennedy Looking for the Possible Dance Secker & Warburg
Philip Marsden Crossing Place HarperCollins
1995 Patrick French Younghusband HarperCollins
Simon Garfield The End of Innocence Faber and Faber
Kathleen Jamie The Queen of Sheba Bloodaxe Books
Laura Thompson The Dogs Chatto & Windus
1996 Katherine Pierpoint Truffle Beds Faber and Faber
Alan Warner Morvern Callar Vintage
1997 Rhidian Brook The Testimony of Taliesin Jones Flamingo
Kate Clanchy Slattern Chatto & Windus
Philip Hensher Kitchen Venom Hamish Hamilton
Francis Spufford I May Be Some Time Faber and Faber
1998 Rachel Cusk The Country Life Picador, Macmillan
Jonathan Rendall This Bloody Mary is the Last Thing I Own Faber and Faber
Kate Summerscale The Queen of Whale Cay Fourth Estate
Robert Twigger Angry White Pyjamas Indigo
1999 Andrea Ashworth Once In a House On Fire Picador, Macmillan
Paul Farley The Boy from the Chemist Is Here To See You Picador, Macmillan
Giles Foden The Last King of Scotland Faber and Faber
Jonathan Freedland Bring Home the Revolution Fourth Estate

2000s

Somerset Maugham Award winners, 2000–2009
Year Author Title Publisher Ref.
2000 Bella Bathurst The Lighthouse Stevensons HarperCollins
Sarah Waters Affinity Virago Press
2001 Edward Platt Leadville Picador, Macmillan
Ben Rice Pobby and Dingan Jonathan Cape
2002 Charlotte Hobson Black Earth City Granta
Marcel Theroux The Paperchase Abacus
2003 William Fiennes The Snow Geese Picador, Macmillan
Hari Kunzru The Impressionist Hamish Hamilton
Jon McGregor If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things Bloomsbury
2004 Mark Blayney Two Kinds of Silence Manuscript Publishing
Robert Macfarlane Mountains of the Mind Granta
Charlotte Mendelson Daughters of Jerusalem Picador, Macmillan
2005 Justin Hill Passing Under Heaven Abacus
Maggie O'Farrell The Distance Between Us Review
2006 Chris Cleave Incendiary Chatto & Windus
Owen Sheers Skirrid Hill Seren Books
Zadie Smith On Beauty Hamish Hamilton
2007 Horatio Clare Running for the Hills John Murray
James Scudamore The Amnesia Clinic Harvill Secker
2008 Steven Hall The Raw Shark Texts Canongate Books
Nick Laird On Purpose Faber and Faber
Gwendoline Riley Joshua Spassky Cape
Adam Thirlwell Miss Herbert (US title: The Delighted States) Cape
2009 Alice Albinia Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River John Murray
Adam Foulds The Broken Word Cape
Rodge Glass Alasdair Gray: A Secretary’s Biography Bloomsbury
Henry Hitchings The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English John Murray
Thomas Leveritt The Exchange Rate Between Love and Money Harvill Secker
Helen Walsh Once Upon a Time in England Canongate Books

2010s

Somerset Maugham Award winners, 2010–2019
Year Author Title Publisher Prize Ref.
2010 Ben Wilson What Price Liberty? Faber and Faber £2,000
Helen Oyeyemi White is for Witching Picador £3,000
Jacob Polley Talk of the Town Picador £5,000
2011 Miriam Gamble The Squirrels Are Dead Bloodaxe £3,500
Alexandra Harris Romantic Moderns Thames and Hudson £3,500
Adam O'Riordan In the Flesh Chatto Poetry £3,500
2012 No award given
2013 Ned Beauman The Teleportation Accident Sceptre £2,500
Abi Curtis The Glass Delusion Salt £2,500
Joe Stretch The Adult Cape £2,500
Lucy Wood Diving Belles Bloomsbury £2,500
2014 Amy Sackville Orkney Granta £2,000
Daisy Hildyard Hunters in the Snow Glass Delusion Cape £4,000
Nadifa Mohamed The Orchard of Lost Souls Simon & Schuster £4,000
2015 Jonathan Beckman How to Ruin a Queen: Marie Antoinette, the Stolen Diamonds and the Scandal that Shook the French Throne John Murray £2,500
Liz Berry Black Country Chatto & Windus £2,500
Ben Brooks Lolito Canongate Books £2,500
Zoe Pilger Eat My Heart Out Serpent’s Tail £2,500
2016 Jessie Greengrass An Account Of The Decline Of The Great Auk, According To One Who Saw It JM Originals £2,500
Daisy Hay Mr & Mrs Disraeli: A Strange Romance Chatto & Windus £2,500
Andrew McMillan Physical Cape Poetry £2,500
Thomas Morris We Don’t Know What We’re Doing Faber and Faber £2,500
Jack Underwood Happiness Faber and Faber £2,500
2017 Edmund Gordon The Invention of Angela Carter Vintage £5,000
Melissa Lee-Houghton Sunshine Penned in the Margins £5,000
Martin MacInnes Infinite Ground Atlantic Books £5,000
2018 Kayo Chingonyi Kumukanda Chatto Poetry £5,250
Fiona Mozley Elmet JM Originals £5,250
Miriam Nash All the Prayers in the House Bloodaxe £5,250
2019 Raymond Antrobus The Perseverance Penned in the Margins £4,000
Damian Le Bas The Stopping Places Chatto & Windus £4,000
Phoebe Power Shrines of Upper Austria Carcanet £4,000
Nell Stevens Mrs Gaskell and Me Picador £4,000

2020s

Somerset Maugham Award winners, 2020–present
Year Author Title Publisher Ref.
2020 Oliver Soden Michael Tippett: The Biography Weidenfeld & Nicolson/Orion
Roseanne Watt Moder Dy Birlinn/Polygon
Alex Allison The Art of the Body Dialogue Books/Little, Brown & Co.
Amrou Al-Kadhi Unicorn 4th Estate
2021 Lamorna Ash Dark, Salt, Clear Bloomsbury
Isabelle Baafi Ripe Ignition Press
Akeem Balogun The Storm Okapi Books
Graeme Armstrong The Young Team Pan Macmillan/Picador
2022 Stephanie Sy-Quia Amnion Granta, Granta Poetry
Tice Cin Keeping the House And Other Stories
Lucia Osborne-Crowley My Body Keeps Your Secrets Indigo Press
Caleb Azumah Nelson Open Water Penguin Random House/Viking Press
Maia Elsner Overrun by Wild Boars Flipped Eye Publishing
2023 Travis Alabanza None of the Above Canongate
Sussie Anie To Fill a Yellow House Phoenix Books
Mya-Rose Craig Birdgirl Penguin
Jay Gao Imperium Carcanet
Gurnaik Johal We Move Profile
Moses McKenzie An Olive Grove in Ends Wildfire

References

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