PEN/Ackerley Prize

Winner of the 2007 PEN/Ackerley Prize

The twenty-sixth PEN/Ackerley Prize for literary autobiography was presented on Wednesday July 18 2007 at the PEN Summer Party to Brian Thompson for his memoir, Keeping Mum. 

About the prize

When Joe Randolph Ackerley  (1896 - 1967), author and long-time literary editor of The Listener magazine, died, his sister Nancy endowed a literary prize in his memory. Ackerley's posthumous royalties continue to provide capital for this award.

A longlist of eligible books is nominated by the judges, who are the Trustees of the fund set up for this purpose. The award is given to a literary autobiography of excellence, written by an author of British nationality and published during the preceding year, for which it is felt that J.R. Ackerley would have expressed enthusiasm.

The judges for the PEN/Ackerley Award are the Trustees of the J. R. Ackerley Foundation: Francis King, Michael Holroyd, Peter Parker (chair) and Colin Spencer.