Folio Prize

The Folio Prize
Awarded for Literary fiction published in the UK
Sponsor The Folio Society (2014-2015)
Reward GB£40,000
First awarded 2014
Last awarded Active
Official website http://www.thefolioprize.com/

The Folio Prize, also known as The Literature Prize, is a literary award that was sponsored by the London-based publisher The Folio Society for its first two years 2014-2015. It is seeking a new sponsor for 2016 after the Folio Society dropped sponsorship.[1] No sponsor was found for 2016, they hope to have one by 2017.[2]

Folio Prize

The Folio Prize was given to an English-language book of fiction published in the UK by an author from any country. The first award was in March of 2014. The jury for the prize was called the Academy, the first academy included Margaret Atwood, Peter Carey, A.S. Byatt and J.M. Coetzee. The prize remuneration was GB£40,000. It was initially called the "Literature Prize" as a placeholder until a sponsor could be found, then the Folio Prize, named for the Folio Society, a publisher of special editions of classic literature.[3]

Books were nominated by members of the Academy, three each, ranked. There were about 100 members in the Academy.[4] Points were given to each book depending on how many first second or third rankings it earned. The top scoring books were made into a longlist of 60 books. To those were added 20 that have been nominated by publishers. The list of 80 was then judged by five members of the Academy (themselves randomly selected each year) who then selected a shortlist of eight and the final winner.[5][3][6][4]

The prize came into being after a group in Britain "took umbrage at the direction they saw the Booker Prize taking – they saw it leaning toward popular fiction rather than literary fiction."[3] The prize was compared as a rival of the Man Booker Prize by the media.[6] Margaret Atwood said the Folio Prize is "much needed in a world in which money is increasingly becoming the measure of all things."[5] Mark Haddon said it was "not a mechanism for generating publicity by propelling a single book into the spotlight but a celebration of literary fiction as a whole."[5]

Winners and shortlists as the Folio Prize

Blue ribbon (Blue ribbon) = winner

2014

The shortlist was announced on 10 February 2014,[7][8] and the winner was announced 10 March. Lavinia Greenlaw was Chair of the jury comprising writers Michael Chabon, Sarah Hall, Nam Le and Pankaj Mishra.[7]

2015

The shortlist was announced on 9 February 2015.[11] The winner was announced 21 March. William Fiennes was Chair of the jury comprising The Observer writer Rachel Cooke and writers Mohsin Hamid, AM Homes, and Deborah Levy.[12]

2016

No prize.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Sarah Shaffi (May 18, 2015). "Folio Society drops prize sponsorship". The Bookseller. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Latest news from The Folio Prize". Folio Prize. 30 September 2015. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Kellogg, Carolyn (13 March 2013). "Jacket Copy: Literature Prize launches as $60,000 Folio Prize". LA Times. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  4. 1 2 Capon, Felicity (14 March 2013). "The Literature Prize becomes The Folio Prize as its sponsor is revealed". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 Lawless, Jill (13 March 2013). "New kid on the block: Folio Prize aims to challenge the Booker as UK’s leading literary award". Associated Press via the Washington Post. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  6. 1 2 Clark, Nick (13 March 2013). "New literary award The Folio Prize launches as 'Booker without the bow ties'". The Independent. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  7. 1 2 "The 2014 Folio Prize Shortlist is Announced". Folio Prize. 10 February 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  8. ↑ Gaby Wood (10 February 2014). "Folio Prize 2013: The Americans are coming, but not the ones we were expecting". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  9. ↑ Ron Charles (March 10, 2014). "George Saunders wins $67,000 for first Folio Prize". Washington Post. Retrieved March 11, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Tenth of December by George Saunders wins inaugural Folio Prize 2014" (PDF). Folio Prize. 10 March 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2014.
  11. ↑ Mark Brown (9 February 2015). "Folio prize shortlist shows literary novel is far from dead, says head judge". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  12. 1 2 Mark Brown (23 March 2015). "Akhil Sharma wins Folio prize for fiction". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 March 2015.

External links

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