| Presenter | Goldsmiths, University of London The New Statesman |
|---|---|
| Firstawarded | 13 November 2013 |
| Location | United Kingdom and Ireland |
| Reward | £10,000 |
| Awarded for | Innovative or experimental novels |
The Goldsmiths Prize is a British literary award, founded in 2013 by Goldsmiths, University of London, in association with the New Statesman.[1] It is awarded annually to a British or Irish piece of fiction that "breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form."[2][3] It is limited to citizens and residents of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, and to novels published by presses based in the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland. The winner receives £10,000.[4]
Tim Parnell of the Goldsmiths English department conceived and runs the prize, inspired by his research into Laurence Sterne and other eighteenth-century writers, like Denis Diderot, who experimented with the novel form.[5][2] The prize "casts its net wider than most other prizes" and intends to celebrate "creative daring," but resists the phrase "experimental fiction," because it implies "an eccentric deviation from the novel’s natural concerns, structures and idioms."[2][5]
To date, Rachel Cusk is the author best represented on the prize's shortlists, having been shortlisted four times for Outline (2014), Transit (2016), Kudos (2018), and Parade (2024). Nine authors have been shortlisted twice: Amy Arnold, Sara Baume, Will Eaves, Deborah Levy, Eimear McBride, Anakana Schofield, Ali Smith, Adam Thirwell, and Isabel Waidner.
Winners and shortlists
| style="background:lightyellow|() winner |
| shortlisted |
| Year | Author | Novel | Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | CD Rose | We Live Here Now | Melville House Publishing | The shortlist was announced on 2 October,[6] with the winner announced on 5 November.[7] |
| Colwill Brown | We Pretty Pieces of Flesh | Vintage | ||
| Yrsa Daley-Ward | The Catch | Penguin | ||
| Sarah Hall | Helm | Faber & Faber | ||
| Ben Pester | The Expansion Project | Granta | ||
| Charlie Porter | Nova Scotia House | Particular | ||
| 2024 | Rachel Cusk | Parade | Faber & Faber | The shortlist was announced on 2 October, with the winner announced on 6 November.[8] |
| Mark Bowles | All My Precious Madness | Galley Beggar | ||
| Jonathan Buckley | Tell | Fitzcaraldo | ||
| Neel Mukherjee | Choice | Atlantic | ||
| Lara Pawson | Spent Light | CB Editions | ||
| Han Smith | Portraits at the Palace of Creativity and Wrecking | John Murray | ||
| 2023 | Benjamin Myers | Cuddy | Bloomsbury | The shortlist was announced on 4 October, with the winner announced on 8 November.[9] |
| Amy Arnold | Lori & Joe | Prototype | ||
| Kate Briggs | The Long Form | Fitzcarraldo Editions | ||
| H. Gareth Gavin | Never Was | Cipher Press | ||
| Richard Milward | Man-Eating Typewriter | White Rabbit | ||
| Adam Thirlwell | The Future Future | Cape | ||
| 2022 | Natasha Soobramanien and Luke Williams | Diego Garcia | Fitzcarraldo Editions | The shortlist was announced on 5 October, and the winner on 10 November.[10] |
| Mona Arshi | Somebody Loves You | And Other Stories | ||
| Sara Baume | Seven Steeples | Tramp Press | ||
| Maddie Mortimer | Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies | Picador | ||
| Helen Oyeyemi | Peaces | Faber & Faber | ||
| Yara Rodrigues Fowler | there are more things | Fleet | ||
| 2021 | Isabel Waidner | Sterling Karat Gold | Peninsula Press | The shortlist was announced on 6 October,[11] and the winner on 10 November.[4] |
| Claire-Louise Bennett | Checkout 19 | Jonathan Cape | ||
| Natasha Brown | Assembly | Hamish Hamilton | ||
| Keith Ridgway | A Shock | New Directions | ||
| Leone Ross | This One Sky Day | Faber and Faber | ||
| Rebecca Watson | little scratch | Faber and Faber | ||
| 2020 | M. John Harrison | The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again | Gollancz | The shortlist was announced on 14 October,[12] and the winner on 11 November.[13] |
| Paul Griffiths | Mr Beethoven | Henningham Family Press | ||
| Xiaolu Guo | A Lover's Discourse | Chatto & Windus | ||
| DBC Pierre | Meanwhile in Dopamine City | Faber | ||
| Monique Roffey | The Mermaid of Black Conch | Peepal Tree Press | ||
| Anakana Schofield | Bina | Fleet | ||
| 2019 | Lucy Ellmann | Ducks, Newburyport | Galley Beggar Press | The shortlist was announced on 2 October,[14] and the winner on 13 November.[15] |
| Isabel Waidner | We Are Made of Diamond Stuff | Dostoyevsky Wannabe | ||
| Vesna Main | Good Day? | Salt | ||
| Amy Arnold | Slip of a Fish | And Other Stories | ||
| Mark Haddon | The Porpoise | Chatto & Windus | ||
| Deborah Levy | The Man Who Saw Everything | Hamish Hamilton | ||
| 2018 | Robin Robertson | The Long Take | Picador | The shortlist was announced on 26 September,[16] and the winner on 14 November.[17] |
| Rachel Cusk | Kudos | Faber | ||
| Will Eaves | Murmur | CB Editions | ||
| Guy Gunaratne | In Our Mad and Furious City | Headline | ||
| Gabriel Josipovici | The Cemetery in Barnes | Carcanet | ||
| Olivia Laing | Crudo | Picador | ||
| 2017 | Nicola Barker | H(A)PPY | William Heinemann | The shortlist was announced on 27 September,[18] and the winner on 15 November 2017.[19] |
| Sara Baume | A Line Made by Walking | William Heinemann | ||
| Kevin Davey | Playing Possum | Aaargh! Press | ||
| Jon McGregor | Reservoir 13 | Fourth Estate | ||
| Gwendoline Riley | First Love | Granta | ||
| Will Self | Phone | Viking | ||
| 2016 | Mike McCormack | Solar Bones | Tramp Press | The shortlist was announced on 28 September,[20] and the winner on 9 November.[21] |
| Deborah Levy | Hot Milk | Hamish Hamilton | ||
| Sarah Ladipo Manyika | Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun | Cassava Republic Press | ||
| Anakana Schofield | Martin John | And Other Stories | ||
| Eimear McBride | The Lesser Bohemians | Faber and Faber | ||
| Rachel Cusk | Transit | Jonathan Cape | ||
| 2015 | Kevin Barry | Beatlebone | Canongate | The shortlist was announced on 1 October,[22] and the winner on 11 November.[23] All the authors on the shortlist were men.[24] |
| Richard Beard | Acts of the Assassins | Vintage | ||
| Magnus Mills | The Field of the Cloth of Gold | Bloomsbury Publishing | ||
| Tom McCarthy | Satin Island | Jonathan Cape | ||
| Max Porter | Grief Is the Thing with Feathers | Faber and Faber | ||
| Adam Thirlwell | Lurid & Cute | Jonathan Cape | ||
| 2014 | Ali Smith | How to Be Both | Penguin | The shortlist was announced on 1 October,[25] and the winner on 12 November.[26] |
| Rachel Cusk | Outline | Vintage | ||
| Will Eaves | The Absent Therapist | CB Editions | ||
| Howard Jacobson | J | Jonathan Cape | ||
| Paul Kingsnorth | The Wake | Unbound Publishing | ||
| Zia Haider Rahman | In the Light of What We Know | Picador | ||
| 2013 | Eimear McBride | A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing | Galley Beggar Press | The shortlist was announced on 1 October,[27][28] and the winner on 13 November.[29][30] |
| Philip Terry | tapestry | Reality Street | ||
| Jim Crace | Harvest | Picador | ||
| Lars Iyer | Exodus | Melville House | ||
| David Peace | Red or Dead | Faber and Faber | ||
| Ali Smith | Artful | Penguin Books |
References
- ^ Alex Peake-Tomkinson (January 23, 2013). "Goldsmiths launch £10,000 literature prize". The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
- ^ "About: Goldsmiths Prize". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
- ^ Joshua Farrington (23 January 2013). "Goldsmiths launches £10,000 literary prize". The Bookseller. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
- ^ Flood, Alison (10 November 2021). "Isabel Waidner wins Goldsmiths prize for 'mindbending' Sterling Karat Gold". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
- ^ "The Goldsmiths Prize". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
- ^ Creamer, Ella (2025-10-02). "Sarah Hall and Charlie Porter among writers on ‘genre-defying’ Goldsmiths prize shortlist". The Guardian. Retrieved 2025-10-03.
- ^ Loffhagen, Emma (2025-11-05). "CD Rose awarded the 2025 Goldsmiths prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 2025-11-07.
- ^ "2024 Prize". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 2024-10-02.
- ^ "The Goldsmiths Prize". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
- ^ Ellis, Lizzie. "Collaborative novel wins the Goldsmiths Prize 2022". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
- ^ Ellen Peirson-Hagger (6 October 2021). "Goldsmiths Prize 2021 shortlist: The six most cutting-edge novelists writing today". newstatesman.com. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
- ^ Flood, Alison (14 October 2020). "DBC Pierre's smartphone era novel leads Goldsmiths prize shortlist". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
- ^ Alison Flood (11 November 2020). "'A literary masterpiece': M John Harrison wins Goldsmiths prize for innovative fiction". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
- ^ Ellen Peirson-Hagger (2 October 2019). "Small literary presses dominate the Goldsmiths Prize shortlist". New Statesman. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
- ^ Heloise Wood (13 November 2019). "Lucy Ellman 'masterpiece' wins Goldsmiths Prize". The Bookseller. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
- ^ Adam Mars-Jones (26 September 2018). "Novel senses of new: the 2018 Goldsmiths prize for fiction shortlist". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
- ^ Alison Flood (14 November 2018). "Robin Robertson wins Goldsmiths prize for innovative fiction with The Long Take". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
- ^ Tom Gatti (2 November 2017). "The Back Half: Goldsmiths Prize Shortlist Special". New Statesman. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
- ^ Laura Harding (15 November 2017). "Illuminated manuscript novel wins Goldsmiths Prize". Independent. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
- ^ Morgan, Tom (28 September 2016). "Goldsmiths Prize 2016 shortlist - six works of fiction at its most novel". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
- ^ Armitstead, Claire (9 November 2016). "Single sentence novel wins Goldsmiths prize for books that 'break the mould'". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
- ^ Morgan, Tom (1 October 2015). "Goldsmiths Prize shortlist 2015". Goldsmiths. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ^ Flood, Alison (11 November 2015). "Novel about John Lennon and primal screaming wins Goldsmiths prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
- ^ Caines, Michael. "Not the Goldsmiths Prize?". TLS. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
- ^ "The shortlist for the 2014 Goldsmiths Prize has been announced". New Statesman. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
- ^ "Ali Smith wins Goldsmiths Prize for How to be Both". BBC News. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
- ^ "Jim Crace makes Goldsmiths Prize shortlist". BBC News. 1 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
- ^ "Shortlist 2013". Goldsmiths Prize. 1 October 2013. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
- ^ "Debut novelist Eimear McBride wins £10,000 prize". London Evening Standard. 13 November 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
- ^ "Eimear McBride wins inaugural Goldsmiths Prize for boldly original fiction". Goldsmith Prize website. 13 November 2013. Archived from the original on 16 November 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
External links
- Goldsmiths Prize, official website.
- A new literary prize celebrating boldly original fiction, New Statesman announcement of award.
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