American Book Award | Booker Prize | Boston Book Review Literary Prize
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


Whitbread Book Award, 2005-1995

The Whitbread Book Award is given each year in four categories (novel, first novel, poetry, and biography) to works by authors who have lived for three or more years in Great Britain or Ireland. Category winners are also eligible to become the Whitbread Book of the Year, which is announced two weeks later and brings prize money of £21,000.


2005

Novel:
The Accidental / Ali Smith  (Winner)
A Long Way Down / Nick Hornby
Shalimar the Clown / Salman Rushdie
The Ballad of Lee Cotton / Christopher Wilson

First Novel:
The Harmony Silk Factory / Tash Aw (Winner)
26a / Diana Evans
The Short Day Dying / Peter Hobbs
Gem Squash Tokoloshe / Rachel Zadok

Poetry:
Cold Calls / Christopher Logue  (Winner)
Legion / David Harsent
Lucky Day / Richard Price
Marabou / Jane Yeh

Biography:
Matisse the Master / Hilary Spurling  (Winner)
Haw-Haw / Nigel Farndale
Nature Cure / Richard Mabey
Stuart: A Life Backwards / Alexander Masters

2004

Novel:
Small Island / Andrea Levy (Winner)
Case Histories / Kate Atkinson
Birds Without Wings / Louis de Bernieres
The Line of Beauty / Alan Hollinghurst

First Novel:
Eve Green / Susan Fletcher (Winner)
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell / Susanna Clarke
The Land as Viewed from the Sea / Richard Collins
The Maze / Panos Karnezis

Poetry:
Corpus / Michael Symmons Roberts  (Winner)
These Days / Leontia Flynn
Ghosts / John Fuller
Ground Water / Matthew Hollis

Biography:
My Heart is My Own The Life of Mary Queen of Scots / John Guy  (Winner)   
Jabez : The Rise and Fall of a Victorian Rogue / David McKie
Stephen Spender / John Sutherland
V.S. Pritchett: A Working Life / Jeremy Treglown

2003

Novel:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time / Mark Haddon (Winner)
The Lucky Ones / Rachel Cusk
Heligoland / Shena Mackay
Frankie & Stankie / Barbara Trapido

First Novel:
Vernon God Little / D.B.C. Pierre (Winner)
Buddha Da / Anne Donovan
An Evening of Long Goodbyes / Paul Murray
An Empty Room / Talitha Stevenson

Poetry:
Landing Light / Don Paterson (Winner)
Minsk / Lavinia Greenlaw
Ink Stone / Jamie McKendrick
Hard Water / Jean Sprackland

Biography:
Orwell: The Life / D J Taylor (Winner)
Margaret Thatcher - Volume Two: The Iron Lady / John Campbell
Gellhorn: A Twentieth-Century Life / Caroline Moorehead
Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith / Andrew Wilson

2002

Novel:
Spies / Michael Frayn (Winner)
White Lightning / Justin Cartwright
Rumours of a Hurricane / Tim Lott
The Story of Lucy Gault / William Trevor

First Novel:
The Song of Names / Norman Lebrecht (Winner)
The End of My Tether / Neil Astley
Homage to a Firing Squad / Tariq Goddard
The Impressionist / Hari Kunzru

Poetry:
The Ice Age / Paul Farley (Winner)
Something for the Ghosts / David Constantine
Voodoo Shop / Ruth Padel
The Beautiful Lie / Sheenagh Pugh

Biography:
Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self / Claire Tomalin (Winner)
Anthony Blunt: His Lives / Miranda Carter
Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA / Brenda Maddox
The Real Mrs Miniver / Ysenda Maxtone Graham

2001

Novel:
Twelve Bar Blues / Patrick Neate (Winner)
The Siege
/ Helen Dunmore
Atonement / Ian McEwan
Oxygen / Andrew Miller

First Novel:

Something Like A House / Sid Smith (Winner)
The Oversight / Will Eaves
Burning Worm / Carl Tighe
August / Gerard Woodward

Poetry:
Bunny / Selima Hill (Winner)
The Age of Cardboard and String / Charles Boyle
If I Don’t Know / Wendy Cope
Panoramic Lounge-Bar / John Stammers

Biography:
Selkirk’s Island / Diana Souhami (Winner)
A View of Delft / Anthony Bailey
Boswell’s Presumptuous Task / Adam Sisman
Flaubert: A Life / Geoffrey Wall

2000

Novel:
English Passengers / Matthew Kneale (Winner)
What Are You Like? / Anne Enright
When We Were Orphans / Kazuo Ishiguro
How the Dead Live / Will Self
Fred & Edie / Jill Dawson

First Novel:
White Teeth / Zadie Smith (Winner)
Under the Skin / Michel Faber
Danny Boy / Jo-Ann Goodwin
Born Free / Laura Hird

Poetry:
The Asylum Dance / John Burnside

Biography:
Bad Blood: A Memoir / Lorna Sage

1999

Novel:
Music and Silence / Rose Tremain

First Novel:
White City Blue / Tim Lott

Poetry and Book of the Year:
Beowulf / Seamus Heaney

Biography:
Berlioz: Volume Two / David Cairns

1998

Novel:
Leading the Cheers / Justin Cartwright

First Novel:
The Last King of Scotland / Giles Foden

Poetry and Book of the Year:
Birthday Letters / Ted Hughes

Biography:
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire / Amanda Foreman

1997

Novel:
Quarantine / Jim Crace

First Novel:
The Ventriloquist's Tale / Pauline Melville

Poetry and Book of the Year:
Tales from Ovid / Ted Hughes

Biography:
Victor Hugo: A Biography / Graham Robb

1996

Novel:
Every Man for Himself / Beryl Bainbridge

First Novel:
The Debt to Pleasure / John Lanchester

Poetry and Book of the Year:
Spirit Level / Seamus Heaney

Biography:
Thomas Cranmer: A Life / Diarmaid MacCulloch

1995

Novel:
The Moor's Last Sigh / Salman Rushdie

First Novel and Book of the Year:
Behind the Scenes at the Museum / Kate Atkinson

Poetry:
Gunpowder / Bernard O'Donoghue

Biography:
Gladstone / Roy Jenkins

Back to Top

Last updated: April 19, 2006