Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award

The Sunday Times / Peters Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year award is a literary prize awarded to a British author under the age of 35 for a published work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry. It is administered by the Society of Authors^[1] and has been running since 1991.^[2]

History

The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award is said here to have originally ran between 1991 and 2009, but there is evidence to confirm that it began twenty years earlier. At that time entries confined to short stories and were published in the newspaper itself. The 1974 winner was Charles Nicholl, who went on to become well-known for historical biographies.^[3] It was re-invigorated with the support of literary agents Peters Fraser + Dunlop in 2015 under the new name Sunday Times / Peters Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award.^[4]

1974 Winner - Charles Nicholl, 'The Ups and The Downs'

In 1999, Paul Farley's The Boy from the Chemist is Here to See You "was so well received", according to the Encyclopedia of British Writers, that "it was named Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award".^[5]

Winners

• Max Porter, Grief Is The Thing With Feathers (2016)
• Sarah Howe, Loop of Jade (2015)^[6]
• Ross Raisin, God's Own Country (2009)^[7]
• Adam Foulds, The Truth about these Strange Times (2008)^[8]
• Naomi Alderman, Disobedience (2007)
• Robert Macfarlane, Mountains of the Mind (2004)
• William Fiennes, The Snow Geese (2003)
• Zadie Smith, White Teeth (2001)
• Sarah Waters, Affinity (2000)
• Paul Farley, The Boy from the Chemist is Here to See You (1999) ^[5]
• Patrick French, Liberty or Death (1998)
• Francis Spufford, I May Be Some Time (1997)
• Katherine Pierpoint, Truffle Beds (1996)
• Andrew Cowan, Pig (1995)
• William Dalrymple, City of Djinns (1994)
• Simon Armitage, Xanadu and Kid (1993)
• Caryl Phillips, Cambridge (1992) ^[9]
• Helen Simpson, Four Bare Legs in a Bed (1991) ^[10]

No award was made in 2002, 2005 or 2006.^[11][12]

References