RSL Christopher Bland Prize
British literary award
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The RSL Christopher Bland Prize was inaugurated by the Royal Society of Literature to encourage the work of older writers. It is awarded annually to an author of a fiction or non-fiction book who was first published when aged 50 or over. The prize is valued at £10,000 and was launched in September 2018. It is named in recognition of Sir Christopher Bland, who was 76 when his first novel was published.[1]
Judges
The initial panel of judges was chaired by Gillian Slovo, and comprised Sanjeev Bhaskar, Archie Bland (son of Sir Christopher) and Anne Chisholm.[2][3] The 2020 prize was judged by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (Chair), Sara Collins and Andrew Lycett.[4] The 2021 judges were Mary Beard (Chair), Monica Ali, Georgia Byng and Ben Hunte.[5] The judging panel for the 2022 prize was David Baddiel (Chair), Naga Munchetty and Caroline Criado Perez.[6] In 2023, the judges were Lemn Sissay (Chair), Simon Savidge and Meena Kandasamy.[7] Judges for the 2024 prize were Shaparak Khorsandi (chair), Josh Cohen and Niall Griffiths.[8] The judges for the prize in 2025 were Jacqueline Wilson (chair), Richard Coles and Margaret Busby.[9]
Winners
| Year | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019[10] | Raynor Winn[11] | The Salt Path | Michael Joseph |
| 2020[12] | Michele Kirsch[13] | Clean | Short Books |
| 2021[14] | Pete Paphides | Broken Greek | Quercus |
| 2022[15] | Julia Parry | The Shadowy Third: Love, Letters, and Elizabeth Bowen | Duckworth Books |
| 2023[16] | Paterson Joseph[17] | The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho | Dialogue |
| 2024[18] | Chidi Ebere | Now I Am Here | Pan Macmillan |
| 2025[19] | Kathryn Faulke | Every Kind of People[20] | Fig Tree |
Shortlists
| Year | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019[21] | Thomas Bourke | The Consolation of Maps | Riverrun |
| Barbara Jenkins | De Rightest Place | Peepal Tree Press | |
| A. J. Pearce | Dear Mrs Bird | Picador | |
| Roland Philipps | A Spy Named Orphan | The Bodley Head | |
| Alex Reeve | The House on Half Moon Street | Raven Books | |
| Raynor Winn | The Salt Path | Michael Joseph | |
| 2020[12] | Anne Griffin | When All is Said | Sceptre |
| Michele Kirsch | Clean | Short Books | |
| Stephen Morris | Black Tea | Claret Press | |
| David Nott | War Doctor: Surgery on the Front Line | Picador | |
| Celia Paul | Self-Portrait | Jonathan Cape | |
| 2021[22] | Rosanna Amaka | The Book of Echoes | Doubleday |
| Richard Atkinson | Mr Atkinson's Rum Contract | 4th Estate | |
| Michael Cashman | One of Them | Bloomsbury | |
| Louise Fein | People Like Us | Head of Zeus | |
| Pete Paphides | Broken Greek | Quercus | |
| Marina Wheeler | The Lost Homestead | Hodder & Stoughton | |
| 2022[23] | Yvonne Bailey-Smith | The Day I Fell Off My Island | Myriad Editions |
| John Carr | Escape From the Ghetto: The Breathtaking Story of the Boy Who Ran Away from Nazis | Hodder Studio | |
| Julia Parry | The Shadowy Third: Love, Letters, and Elizabeth Bowen | Duckworth Books | |
| Charlotte Raven | Patient 1: Forgetting and Finding Myself | Jonathan Cape | |
| Peter Stott | Hot Air: The Inside Story of the Battle Against Climate Change Denial | Atlantic Books | |
| 2023[16] | Susie Alegre | Freedom to Think | Atlantic Books |
| Jo Browning Wroe | A Terrible Kindness | Faber & Faber | |
| Bonnie Garmus | Lessons in Chemistry | Doubleday | |
| Jill Nalder | Love from the Pink Palace | Wildfire | |
| Paterson Joseph | The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho | Dialogue | |
| Devika Ponnambalam | I Am Not Your Eve | Bluemoose Books | |
| 2024[24] | Chidi Ebere | Now I Am Here | Pan Macmillan |
| Carole Hailey | The Silence Project | Atlantic Books | |
| Rachel Meller | The Box with the Sunflower Clasp | Icon Books | |
| Tom Parfitt | High Caucasus | Headline | |
| Allyson Shaw | Ashes & Stones: A Scottish Journey in Search of Witches and Witness | Hodder & Stoughton | |
| 2025[20] | Diane Abbott | A Woman Like Me | Viking |
| Jane Cholmeley | A Bookshop of One's Own | HarperCollins | |
| Kathryn Faulke | Every Kind of People | Penguin | |
| Hugh Greenhalgh | The Diaries of Mr Lucas | Atlantic | |
| Anne Hawk | The Pages of the Sea | Weatherglass | |
| Richard Shimell | Trees in Winter | Sphere |
Controversy
In 2019, Raynor Winn was awarded the £10,000 Christopher Bland Prize for debut novelists after deceptively representing The Salt Path as her first book, despite it being her second.[25][26]