Established
in 1987, the prize is awarded by the Commonwealth Foundation in
association with the Book Trust and the Royal Over-Seas League. It is
awarded to a work of prose fiction written in English by a citizen of
the Commonwealth. There are awards (best book and best first book) to
writers in each of 4 regions - Africa, the Caribbean and Canada,
Eurasia, and Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. Finalists from each
region are eligible for the overall prizes. The final judging and award
ceremony is held in a different Commonwealth country each year. The
best book winner is given the unique opportunity of a private audience
with the Queen. 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000
Commonwealth Writers' Prize | Firecracker
Alternative Book Award | Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual
Book Award
Giller
Prize | Guardian First Book Award | International
IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
Kiriyama
Pacific Rim Book Prize | National
Book Award | National
Book Critics Circle Award
National
Jewish Book Award | Nobel
Prize | Orange
Prize | PEN/Faulkner
Award
Pulitzer
Prize | Robert
F. Kennedy Book Award | Whitbread
Book Award
Best First Book:
Regional
Winners and Commended Titles:
Africa Region
The
Whale Caller / Zakes Mda
Praying
Mantis / Andre Brink
Slow Man
/ J.M.Coetzee
The Typewriter's Tale / Michiel Heyns
The Sun by Night / Benjamin Kwakye
Best First Book
Tropical Fish:
Stories Out of
Entebbe / Doreen Baingana
Beasts Of No
Nation / Uzodinma Iweala
Repeat Performance / Angie Herrmann
A
Map Of Glass / Jane Urquhart
Carnival / Robert Antoni
A Wall of
Light / Edeet Ravel
A Perfect Pledge / Rabindranath Maharaj
Alligator
/ Lisa Moore
Best First Book
George and Rue / George Clarke
Suspended Sentences / Mark McWatt
The City Man / Howard Akler
Limbo / Jacqueline Honnet
John Crow's Devil / Marlon James
Eurasia Region
Journey to the End of the Whale /
John David Morley
Dancing In
The Dark / Caryl Phillips
A Long Way
Down / Nick Hornby
Rules for
Old Men Waiting / Peter Pouncey
Never Let Me
Go / Kazuo Ishiguro
Desertion
/ Abdulrazak Gurnah
The Family Tree / Carole Cadwalladr
The Morning Rides Behind Us / Tariq Goddard
On Beauty
/ Zadie Smith
Shalimar the
Clown / Salman Rushdie
Arthur &
George / Julian Barnes
Beyond Black
/ Hilary Mantel
Best First Book
Q and A / Vikas Swarup
Lazy Eye / Donna Daley-Clarke
Piggy Monk Square / Grace Joliffe
Utterly
Monkey / Nick Laird
A Short
History Of Tractors In Ukrainian / Marina Lewycka
26A /
Diana Evans
Incendiary / Chris Cleave
Misfortune
/ Wesley Stace
The Icarus Girl / Helen Oyeyemi
South East Asia and South Pacific Region
Grace / Robert Drewe
Surrender / Sonya Hartnett
March /
Geraldine Brooks
Blindsight / Maurice Gee
The Marsh Birds / Eva Sallis
The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers / Delia Falconer
The Book Thief / Markus Zusak
The Ballad of Desmond Kale / Roger McDonald
The Secret River / Kate Grenville
Affection / Ian Townsend
Winter Journey / Diane Armstrong
The Grasshopper Shoe / Carolyn Leach-Paholski
An Accidental Terrorist / Steven Lang
The Harmony
Silk Factory / Tash Aw
Road Story / Julienne Van Loon
Everyman's
Rules for Scientific Living / Carrie Tiffany
The Patron Saint of Eels / Gregory Day
Let Me Sing You Gentle Songs / Linda Olsson
A Red Silk Sea / Gillian Ransfead
Small Island
/ Andrea Levy
Best First Book:
Purple
Hibiscus / Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie
Regional
Winners and Commended Titles:
Africa Region
Boy / Lindsey
Collen (Winner)
Graceland
/ Chris
Abani
My Shadow
/ Bryan
Rostron
Before I
Forget / Andre
Brink
Sovereign
Body / Tanure Ojaide
Best First Book
Purple
Hibiscus / Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie (Winner)
One Tongue
Singing / Susan
Mann
Unexpected
Joy at Dawn / Agiri-Agyei
Runaway
/ Alice Munro (Winner)
Night Calypso
/ Lawrence
Scott
The Memory
Man / Lisa
Appignanesi
Beyond
Measure / Pauline
Holdstock
A Complicated
Kindness / Miriam
Toews
Bedlam / Greg
Hollingshead
What Casanova
Told Me / Susan Swan
In the Place
of Last Things / Michael Helm
Best First Book
Natasha
& Other Stories / David
Bezmozgis (Winner)
Some Great
Thing / Colin
McAdam
Conspirators
/ Michael Andre
Bernstein
Norman Bray,
in the Performance of His Life / Trevor
Cole
Beginning of
Was / Ania Szado
Hunger's
Brides / Paul Anderson
Let's Not Let
a Little Thing Like the End of the World Come Between Us / James Marshall
Eurasia Region
Small Island
/ Andrea Levy
(Winner)
Birds Without
Wings / Louis de
Bernieres
Mobius
Dick /
Andrew Crumey
The Electric
Michelangelo / Sarah
Hall
The Line of
Beauty / Alan
Hollinghurst
My Nine Lives
/ Ruth Prawar
Jhabvala
Cloud Atlas
/
David
Mitchell
Lighthousekeeping
/ Jeanette
Winterson
Best First Book
The Sari Shop
/ Rupa Bajwa (Winner)
A
Clear
Calling / David
Austin
The
Inheritors / Aruna
Chakravarti
The
Afterglow
/ Anthony
Cartwright
Black
Dirt / Nell Leyshon
The Last Song
of Dusk / Siddharth
Dhanvant Shanghvi
Bullet
Points
/ Mark
Watson
South East Asia and South Pacific Region
The Broken
Book / Susan Johnson
Sixty Lights
/ Gail Jones
Paint Your
Wife / Lloyd Jones
A Private Man
/ Malcolm Knox
Mansfield
/ C.K. Stead
The Turning
/ Tim Winton
The
Submerged Cathedral / Charlotte Wood
Seeing George
/ Cassandra Austin
Furies /
John Charalambous
Geography
/ Sophie Cunningham
The Ghost
Writer / John Harwood
Sibyl's Cave
/ Catherine Padmore
Like Small
Bones / Ruth Pettis
The Last Ride
/ Denise Young
A Distant
Shore / Caryl Phillips
Regional winners:
The Good
Doctor / Damon Galgut
Deafening
/ Frances Itani
The Hamilton
Case / Michelle de Krester
Best First Book:
The Curious
Incident of the Dog in the Night-time / Mark Haddon
Regional winners:
Gardening at
Night / Diane Awerbuck
Somewhere
Home / Nada Awar Jarrar
Mme. Proust
and the Kosher Kitchen / Kate Taylor
The
Polished Hoe / Austin Clark
Regional winners:
The Other
Side of Silence / Andre Brink
Spies /
Michael Frayn
What the
Birds See / Sonya Hartnett
Best First Book:
Haweswater
/ Sarah Hall
Regional winners:
The Scent of
a Lie / Paulo Da Costa
Waiting for
an Angel / Helon Habila
The Rice
Mother / Rani Manicka
Gould's Book
of Fish / Richard Flanagan
Regional winners:
The Pickup
/ Nadine Gordimer
Atonement / Ian
McEwan
Hateship,
Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage / Alice Munro
Best First Book:
Ama,
a Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade / Manu Herbstein
Regional winners:
In the Blue
House / Meaghan Delahunt
The 18th
Pale Descendant / William Muir
Martin Sloane
/ Michael Redhill
True
History of the Kelly Gang / Peter Carey
Regional winners:
The Hero's
Walk / Anita Rau Badami
The Glass
Palace / Amitav Ghosh
The Heart of
Redness / Zakes Mda
Best First Book:
White
Teeth / Zadie Smith
Regional winners:
Thirteen
Cents / K. Sello Duiker
The Company
/ Arabella Edge
Burning
Ground / Pearl Luke
Disgrace
/ J.M. Coetzee
Regional winners:
What the
Body Remembers / Shauna Singh Baldwin
Too Many Men
/ Lily Brett
The Ground
Beneath Her Feet / Salman Rushdie
Best First Book:
Prisoner in
a Red-Rose Chain / Jeffrey Moore
Regional winners:
The Legend
of the Rockhills and Other Stories / Funso Aiyejina
The Blue
Bedspread / Raj Kamal Jha
Reconnaissance
/ Kapka Kassabova