The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors. Set up by William Somerset Maugham in 1947 the awards enable young writers to enrich their work by gaining experience in foreign countries. The awards go to writers under the age of 35 with works published in the year before the award; the work can be either non-fiction, fiction or poetry.
Since 1964 multiple winners have usually been chosen in the same year. In 1975 and in 2012 the award was not given.
List of winners
1940s +Somerset Maugham Award winners, 1947–1949YearAuthorTitlePublisher1947InnocentsHogarth Press1948Journey to the InteriorJonathan Cape1949Elegies for the Dead in CyrenaicaJohn Lehmann 1950s +Somerset Maugham Award winners, 1950–1959YearAuthorTitlePublisherRef.1950Tomato Cain & Other Stories Collins1951Scamp John Lehmann1952Longman1953Hear and Forgive Gollancz1954Five Short Novels Michael Joseph1955Lucky Jim Gollancz1956Deutsch1957In the Castle of My Skin Michael Joseph1958Preliminary Essays Macmillan1959Faber and Faber
1960s +Somerset Maugham Award winners, 1960–1969YearAuthorTitlePublisherRef.1960Faber and Faber1961Miguel Street Deutsch1962Eyre & Spottiswoode1963Flight Into Camden Longman1964Time of Arrival WeidenfeldGollancz1965Negatives Jonathan Cape1966Collins1966Constable1967Trawl Secker & WarburgJonathan Cape1968At The Jerusalem Jonathan CapeDeath of a Naturalist Faber and Faber1969Several Perceptions Heinemann
1970s +Somerset Maugham Award winners, 1970–1979YearAuthorTitlePublisherRef.1970 Hodder & StoughtonMonk Dawson Secker & Warburg1971LongmanTussy Is Me WeidenfeldI’m the King of the Castle Hamish Hamilton1972Terry Street Faber and FaberFly Away Home Hodder & Stoughton1973Play Things GollanczMacmillanPrudence Dictates Hart-Davis1974Jonathan Cape1975No Award1976Chatto & WindusFirst Love, Last Rites Jonathan Cape1977Shelley: The Pursuit Quartet Books1978Faber and FaberMy Life Closed Twice Secker & Warburg1979Jack & Jill DuckworthDaughter of Jerusalem Blond & Briggs
1980s +Somerset Maugham Award winners, 1980–1989YearAuthorTitlePublisherRef.1980Allen & UnwinBomber Command Michael JosephArcadia Oxford University Press1981Metroland Jonathan CapeHearts of Gold Allison & BusbySecker & Warburg1982Hamish HamiltonLantern Lecture Faber and Faber1983Keepers of the House Jonathan Cape1984Hamish HamiltonJonathan CapeBloodaxe Books1985Dark Glasses Chatto & WindusBy the Fisheries Jonathan CapeHer Living Image Faber and Faber1986Family Myths and Legends Andre DeutschFrontiers Weidenfeld & NicolsonTongues of Flame Heinemann1987HeinemannIsaac Campion Julia MacRaeChatto & Windus1988BloomsburySelling Manhattan AnvilWhore Banquets Gollancz Heinemann1989Romantic Affinities Bodley HeadChatto & WindusFaber and Faber
1990s +Somerset Maugham Award winners, 1990–1999YearAuthorTitlePublisherRef.1990Our Grandmothers' DrumsSecker & WarburgSecker & WarburgCollins Harvill1991MacmillanHonour Thy FatherSecker & WarburgFour Bare Legs in a BedHeinemann1992But BeautifulJonathan CapeLempriere’s DictionaryS. StevensonHouseholderChatto & Windus1993JellaGollanczOut of the RainBloodaxe BooksBucket of TonguesSecker & Warburg1994Other LoversBloodaxe BooksLooking for the Possible DanceSecker & WarburgCrossing PlaceHarperCollins1995YounghusbandHarperCollinsFaber and FaberBloodaxe BooksChatto & Windus1996Truffle BedsFaber and FaberMorvern CallarVintage1997FlamingoSlatternChatto & WindusKitchen VenomHamish HamiltonI May Be Some TimeFaber and Faber1998Picador, MacmillanThis Bloody Mary is the Last Thing I OwnFaber and FaberFourth EstateAngry White PyjamasIndigo1999Once In a House On FirePicador, MacmillanPicador, MacmillanFaber and FaberBring Home the RevolutionFourth Estate
2000s +Somerset Maugham Award winners, 2000–2009YearAuthorTitlePublisherRef.2000HarperCollinsAffinityVirago Press2001Leadville Picador, MacmillanPobby and DinganJonathan Cape2002Black Earth CityGrantaAbacus2003Picador, MacmillanHamish HamiltonIf Nobody Speaks of Remarkable ThingsBloomsbury2004Two Kinds of SilenceManuscript PublishingMountains of the MindGrantaDaughters of JerusalemPicador, Macmillan2005Passing Under Heaven AbacusReview2006IncendiaryChatto & WindusSkirrid HillSeren BooksOn BeautyHamish Hamilton2007Running for the HillsJohn MurrayHarvill Secker2008Canongate BooksOn PurposeFaber and FaberJoshua SpasskyCapeMiss Herbert (US title: The Delighted States) Cape2009Empires of the Indus: The Story of a RiverJohn MurrayCapeAlasdair Gray: A Secretary’s BiographyBloomsburyJohn MurrayHarvill SeckerOnce Upon a Time in EnglandCanongate Books 2010s +Somerset Maugham Award winners, 2010–2019YearAuthorTitlePublisherPrizeRef.2010What Price Liberty? Faber and Faber £2,000White is for Witching Picador £3,000Talk of the Town Picador £5,0002011Bloodaxe £3,500Romantic Moderns Thames and Hudson £3,500In the Flesh Chatto Poetry £3,5002012No award given2013Sceptre £2,500Salt £2,500Cape £2,500Diving Belles Bloomsbury £2,5002014Orkney Granta £2,000Hunters in the Snow Glass Delusion Cape £4,000Simon & Schuster £4,0002015How to Ruin a Queen: Marie Antoinette, the Stolen Diamonds and the Scandal that Shook the French Throne John Murray £2,500Black Country Chatto & Windus £2,500Lolito Canongate Books £2,500Eat My Heart Out Serpent’s Tail £2,5002016An Account Of The Decline Of The Great Auk, According To One Who Saw It JM Originals £2,500Mr & Mrs Disraeli: A Strange Romance Chatto & Windus £2,500Physical Cape Poetry £2,500We Don’t Know What We’re Doing Faber and Faber £2,500Happiness Faber and Faber £2,5002017Vintage £5,000Sunshine Penned in the Margins £5,000Infinite Ground Atlantic Books £5,0002018Kumukanda Chatto Poetry £5,250Elmet JM Originals £5,250All the Prayers in the House Bloodaxe £5,2502019Penned in the Margins £4,000Chatto & Windus £4,000Shrines of Upper Austria Carcanet £4,000Mrs Gaskell and Me Picador £4,000
2020s +Somerset Maugham Award winners, 2020–presentYearAuthorTitlePublisherRef.2020Michael Tippett: The BiographyWeidenfeld & Nicolson/OrionModer DyBirlinn/PolygonDialogue Books/Little, Brown & Co.Unicorn4th Estate2021Dark, Salt, ClearBloomsburyRipeIgnition PressOkapi BooksPan Macmillan/Picador2022AmnionGranta, Granta PoetryKeeping the HouseAnd Other StoriesMy Body Keeps Your SecretsIndigo PressOpen WaterPenguin Random House/Viking PressOverrun by Wild BoarsFlipped Eye Publishing2023None of the AboveCanongateTo Fill a Yellow HousePhoenix Books BirdgirlPenguinImperiumCarcanetWe MoveProfileWildfire2024AnamesisBad Diaspora PoemsTwilight CitiesWandering SoulsHercHarperCollins/HQ Stories 2025 Jo Hamya The Hypocrite Ashani Lewis Winter Animals Jason Okundaye Revolutionary Acts: Love & Brotherhood in Black Gay Britain Charlotte Shevchenko Night Food for the Dead
References