Goldsmiths Prize

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The Goldsmiths Prize
Awarded forInnovative or experimental novels
LocationUnited Kingdom and Ireland
Presented by Goldsmiths, University of London The New Statesman
Reward(s)£10,000
First awarded13 November 2013
Website https://www.gold.ac.uk/goldsmiths-prize/   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

The Goldsmiths Prize is a British literary award, founded in 2013 by Goldsmiths, University of London, in association with the New Statesman. [1] It is awarded annually to a piece of fiction that "breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form." [2] [3] It is limited to citizens and residents of the United Kingdom and Ireland, and to novels published by presses based in the United Kingdom or Ireland. The winner receives £10,000. [4]

Contents

Tim Parnell of the Goldsmiths English department conceived and runs the prize, inspired by his research into Laurence Sterne and other eighteenth-century writers, like Denis Diderot, who experimented with the novel form. [5] [2] The prize "casts its net wider than most other prizes" and intends to celebrate "creative daring," but resists the phrase "experimental fiction," because it implies "an eccentric deviation from the novel’s natural concerns, structures and idioms." [2] [5]

To date, Rachel Cusk is the author best represented on the prize's shortlists, having been shortlisted four times for Outline (2014), Transit (2016), Kudos (2018), and Parade (2024). Nine authors have been shortlisted twice: Amy Arnold, Sara Baume, Will Eaves, Deborah Levy, Eimear McBride, Anakana Schofield, Ali Smith, Adam Thirwell, and Isabel Waidner.

Winners and shortlists

Blue Ribbon ( Blueribbon icon.png ) = winner

Shortlisted and winning books (2013-2023)
YearAuthorNovelPublisherNotes
2024Mark BowlesAll My Precious MadnessGalley BeggarThe shortlist was announced on 2 October, with the winner announced on 6 November. [6]
Jonathan Buckley TellFitzcaraldo
Blueribbon icon.png Rachel Cusk Parade Faber & Faber
Neel Mukherjee ChoiceAtlantic
Lara PawsonSpent LightCB Editions
Han SmithPortraits at the Palace of Creativity and WreckingJohn Murray
2023 Blueribbon icon.png Benjamin Myers CuddyBloomsburyThe shortlist was announced on 4 October, with the winner announced on 8 November. [7]
Amy Arnold Lori & JoePrototype
Kate BriggsThe Long Form Fitzcarraldo Editions
H. Gareth GavinNever WasCipher Press
Richard Milward Man-Eating TypewriterWhite Rabbit
Adam Thirlwell The Future FutureCape
2022 Blueribbon icon.png Natasha Soobramanien and Luke Williams Diego Garcia Fitzcarraldo Editions The shortlist was announced on 5 October, and the winner on 10 November. [8]
Mona Arshi Somebody Loves You And Other Stories
Sara Baume Seven Steeples Tramp Press
Maddie Mortimer Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies Picador
Helen Oyeyemi Peaces Faber & Faber
Yara Rodrigues Fowler there are more thingsFleet
2021 Blueribbon icon.png Isabel Waidner Sterling Karat GoldPeninsula PressThe shortlist was announced on 6 October, [9] and the winner on 10 November. [4]
Claire-Louise Bennett Checkout 19 Jonathan Cape
Natasha Brown Assembly Hamish Hamilton
Keith Ridgway A Shock New Directions
Leone Ross This One Sky Day Faber and Faber
Rebecca Watson little scratch Faber and Faber
2020 Blueribbon icon.png M. John Harrison The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again Gollancz The shortlist was announced on 14 October, [10] and the winner on 11 November. [11]
Paul Griffiths Mr BeethovenHenningham Family Press
Xiaolu Guo A Lover's Discourse Chatto & Windus
DBC Pierre Meanwhile in Dopamine CityFaber
Monique Roffey The Mermaid of Black Conch Peepal Tree Press
Anakana Schofield Bina Fleet
2019 Blueribbon icon.png Lucy Ellmann Ducks, Newburyport Galley Beggar Press The shortlist was announced on 2 October, [12] and the winner on 13 November. [13]
Isabel Waidner We Are Made of Diamond StuffDostoyevsky Wannabe
Vesna Main Good Day? Salt
Amy Arnold Slip of a Fish And Other Stories
Mark Haddon The Porpoise Chatto & Windus
Deborah Levy The Man Who Saw Everything Hamish Hamilton
2018 Blueribbon icon.png Robin Robertson The Long Take Picador The shortlist was announced on 26 September, [14] and the winner on 14 November. [15]
Rachel Cusk KudosFaber
Will Eaves MurmurCB Editions
Guy Gunaratne In Our Mad and Furious City Headline
Gabriel Josipovici The Cemetery in Barnes Carcanet
Olivia Laing Crudo Picador
2017 Blueribbon icon.png Nicola Barker H(A)PPY William Heinemann The shortlist was announced on 27 September, [16] and the winner on 15 November 2017. [17]
Sara Baume A Line Made by Walking William Heinemann
Kevin Davey Playing PossumAaargh! Press
Jon McGregor Reservoir 13 Fourth Estate
Gwendoline Riley First Love Granta
Will Self Phone Viking
2016 Blueribbon icon.png Mike McCormack Solar Bones Tramp Press The shortlist was announced on 28 September, [18] and the winner on 9 November. [19]
Deborah Levy Hot Milk Hamish Hamilton
Sarah Ladipo Manyika Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun Cassava Republic Press
Anakana Schofield Martin John And Other Stories
Eimear McBride The Lesser Bohemians Faber and Faber
Rachel Cusk Transit Jonathan Cape
2015 Blueribbon icon.png Kevin Barry Beatlebone Canongate The shortlist was announced on 1 October, [20] and the winner on 11 November. [21] All the authors on the shortlist were men. [22]
Richard Beard Acts of the Assassins Vintage
Magnus Mills The Field of the Cloth of Gold Bloomsbury Publishing
Tom McCarthy Satin Island Jonathan Cape
Max Porter Grief Is the Thing with Feathers Faber and Faber
Adam Thirlwell Lurid & Cute Jonathan Cape
2014 Blueribbon icon.png Ali Smith How to Be Both Penguin The shortlist was announced on 1 October, [23] and the winner on 13 November. [24]
Rachel Cusk Outline Vintage
Will Eaves The Absent TherapistCB Editions
Howard Jacobson J Jonathan Cape
Paul Kingsnorth The Wake Unbound Publishing
Zia Haider Rahman In the Light of What We Know Picador
2013 Blueribbon icon.png Eimear McBride A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing Galley Beggar Press The shortlist was announced on 1 October, [25] [26] and the winner on 13 November. [27] [28]
Philip Terry tapestryReality Street
Jim Crace Harvest Picador
Lars Iyer Exodus Melville House
David Peace Red or Dead Faber and Faber
Ali Smith Artful Penguin Books

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References

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