PEN/Ackerley Prize
This prize was first awarded in 1982. 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 2010 PEN/Ackerley Prize was awarded to Gabriel Weston for Direct Red (Cape) a startlingly frank book describing the decisions and processes involved in being a surgeon - in particular a young woman surgeon.
Peter Parker, chair of the judges, commented: 'One of the pleasures of judging the PEN/Ackerley Prize is to discover that those who are writing their first book can often hold their own against far more experienced writers. Gabriel Weston certainly had to beat off some strong competition, but Direct Red emerged triumphantly as the judges' unanimous choice to win the Prize.'
The other short-listed authors in 2010 were:
Margaret Drabble - The Pattern In The Carpet (Atlantic)
William Fiennes - The Music Room (Picador)
Rick Gekoski - Outside of a Dog (Constable)
Timothy Knatchbull - From a Clear Blue Sky (Hutchinson)
2009
The 2009 PEN/Ackerley Prize was awarded to Julia Blackburn for The Three of Us, her frank account of growing up in a fractured bohemian household. Dan Franklin, Blackburn's editor at Cape, accepted the prize cheque on Blackburn's behalf, expressing her delight at winning, and her sorrow that she she was unable to attend, as her house in Italy had recently been struck by lightning. To read a full report on the event please click here.
The other short-listed authors in 2009 were:
Julian Barnes - Nothing to be Frightened of (Cape)
Julia Blackburn - The Three of Us (Cape)
Susie Boyt - My Judy Garland Life (Virago)
Ferdinand Mount - Cold Cream (Bloomsbury)
Sathnam Sanghera - The Boy with the Topknot [originally published as If You Don't Know Me By Now] (Penguin)
2008
The 2008 prize was awarded to Miranda Seymour for her frank account of her family's tangled relationships, In My Father's House, published by Simon & Schuster. Introducing the prize-winning book, Peter Parker, chair of the judges said: 'Miranda Seymour recognises that all family stories can be told from different perspectives and in this book about her own troubled relationship with her father she also allows her mother a voice, a voice that comments throughout on what Seymour is writing, challenging both her memory and her motives in telling this extraordinary story.'
The other short-listed authors in 2008 were:
The Presence by Dannie Abse (Hutchinson)
Who Is It That Can Tell Me Who I Am? by Jane Haynes (www.intheconsultingroom.com)
The Islamist by Ed Husain (Penguin)
Family Romance by John Lanchester (Faber)
2007
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.
The other short-listed authors in 2007 were:
Horatio Clare, Running for the Hills (John Murray)
John Cornwell, Seminary Boy (4th Estate)
Rupert Everett, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins (Little Brown)
Simon Gray, The Year of the Jouncer(Granta)
Jeremy Harding, Mother Country (Faber)
2006
The twenty-fifth PEN/Ackerley Prize for literary autobiography was presented on Thursday July 13 2006 at the PEN Summer Party to Alan Bennett for his memoir, Untold Stories, which presents the very best of Bennett's writing over the last decade, much of it deeply personal. In his acceptance speech, Bennett said: 'I am very honoured to receive the award, particularly as it comes from fellow practitioners and from such a distinguished organization. While not wishing to mention other literary awards, I must say that the British Book Awards are somewhat nylon, if not crinoline, whereas this award is undoubtedly tweed. I was, when Ackerley died, just starting my literary career. I wonder, if he had been able to write as freely about his life as one can now, whether he would have written the books he did. Maybe his sister had that in the back of her mind when she set up the prize. Anyway, I am very, very grateful. Thank you very much indeed.'
The other short-listed authors in 2006 were:
Nina Bawden, Dear Austen (Virago)
Xandra Bingley, Bertie, May and Mrs Fish (Harper Perennial)
Neil Cross, Heartland (Scribner)
Richard Mabey, Nature Cure (Chatto & Windus)
Anna Swan, Statues without Shadows (Sceptre)
Previous Winners:
2005 - Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy, Half An Arch
2004 - Bryan Magee, Clouds of Glory - A Hoxton Childhood
2003 - Jenny Diski, Stranger on a Train
2002 - Michael Foss, Out of India: a Raj Childhood
2001 - Lorna Sage, Bad Blood
2000 - Mark Frankland, Child of My Time
1999 - Margaret Forster, Precious Lives
1998 - Kathryn Fitzherbert, True to Both Myselves
1997 - Tim Lott, The Scent of Dried Roses
1996 - Eric Lomax, The Railway Man
1995 - Paul Vaughan, Something in Linoleum
1994 - Blake Morrison, When Did You Last See
Your Father?
1993 - Barry Humphries, More, Please
1992 - John Osborne, Almost a Gentleman
1991 - Paul Binding, St Martin's Ride
1990 - Germaine Greer, Daddy We Hardly Knew
You
1989 - John Healy, The Grass Arena
1988 - Anthony Burgess, Little Wilson & Big God
1987 - Diana Athill, After the Funeral
1986 - Dan Jacobson, Time and Time Again
1985 - Angelica Garnett, Deceived with Kindness
1984 - Richard Cobb, Still Life
1983 - Kathleen Dayus, Her People Joint
Ted Walker, High Path winners
1982 - Edward Blishen, Shaky Relations