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Lakeland Book of the Year
English literary award, established 1984
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Lakeland Book of the Year, also known as the Hunter Davies Lakeland Book of the Year,[1] is an award named for the Lake District of north west England and given annually for a book, originally "set in or featuring Cumbria in some way". From 2026 the criterion is that "The author of the book should have strong connections to Cumbria, or the book itself must have a majority of Cumbria-related content."[2] It was founded by writer Hunter Davies in 1984 and was administered by Cumbria Tourism until 2025. Davies was one of the judges from 1984 to 2022.[3] In 2023, following Davies's retirement from the role, the judges were Fiona Armstrong, Eric Robson, Michael McGregor, director of Wordsworth Grasmere, Kathleen Jones and "guest judge" Rachel Laverack from Cumbria County Council.[4] The prizes were traditionally announced at a gala lunch in June, although in 2020 the proceedings took place online because of COVID-19.[5][6] Cumbria Tourism announced the dates for the 2025 award, but later announced that they were no longer organising the award.[7]
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From 2026 "The awards ... are now run by the Lakeland Book of the Year in association with a panel of distinguished trustees and judges."[8] As of January 2026[update] the trustees are Hunter Davies, Michael McGregor, author Kathleen Jones, Vicky Robinson, and Fiona Armstrong.[9]
There are a number of awards for specific categories of books, and an overall winner is selected as the "Book of the Year". From the 2021 competition (for books published in 2020), and still for 2026,[2] the categories were:[5]
- Fiction
- Guides and Places
- Illustration and Presentation
- Landscape and Tradition
- Literature and Poetry
- People and Business
In 2023 a new prize for Children's Poem of the Year, sponsored by CGP Books was added, open to Cumbrian schoolchildren between key stages 2 and 5.[4]
Winners
| Year | Author | Title | Publisher & ISBN | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 joint[10] | Automobile Association and Ordnance Survey | AA/OS Guide to the Lake District | AA/OS ISBN 978-0861451920 | |
| 1984 joint[10] | Mary E. Burkett & David Sloss | William Green of Ambleside: Lake District Artist (1760-1823) | Abbot Hall Art Gallery ISBN 978-0950333540 | on William Green |
| 1985[11] | Alfred Wainwright with photographs by Derry Brabbs | Fellwalking with Wainwright | Michael Joseph ISBN 9780718124281 | 18 favourite walks; new ed published 2006 |
| 1986/87 joint[10] | Peter Thornton | Lakeland from the Air | Dalesman ISBN 978-0852068502 | with foreword by Alfred Wainwright |
| 1986/87 joint[10] | Trevor Haywood | Walking with a Camera in Herries' Lakeland | Fountain Press ISBN 978-0863430237 | referring to Hugh Walpole's Herries Chronicles |
| 1988[12] | Molly Lefebure | The Bondage of Love – A Life of Mrs Samuel Taylor Coleridge | Victor Gollancz ISBN 0-575-03871-3 | on the poet's wife Sara Fricker |
| 1989[10] | Enid Wilson | Country Diary | Hodder & Stoughton ISBN 0-340-41522-3 | Wilson wrote for "Country Diary" in The Guardian for 30 years |
| 1990[11][10] | Vivian Russell | Dream gardens: discovering the gardens of the Lake District | Century ISBN 9780712629126 | |
| 1991[10] | David Clifford (ed) | The Diaries of Lady Anne Clifford | Sutton ISBN 9780750931786 | editor is a descendant of Lady Anne |
| 1992[10] | Alan Hankinson | Coleridge Walks the Fells: A Lakeland Journey Retraced | Ellenbank ISBN 978-1873551004 | retracing Coleridge's 1802 9-day walk[13] |
| 1993[10] | Iain Peters & Colin Shelbourn | Rocky Rambler's Wild Walker | Cicerone ISBN 978-1852843472 | 10 Lake District walks for children |
| 1994[14] | Grevel Lindop | A Literary Guide to the Lake District | Chatto & Windus ISBN 9780701161620 | a 3rd ed was published in 2015 |
| 1995[10] | John Heelis | The Tale of Mrs. William Heelis | Sutton ISBN 978-0750921251 | author's great-uncle was Beatrix Potter's husband William Heelis[15] |
| 1996[10] | June Thistlethwaite | Cumbrian Women Remember: Lake District Life in the Early 1900s | Sutton ISBN 978-1873551127 | |
| 1997[10] | Andrew Wilson | A President's Love Affair with the Lake District: Woodrow Wilson's Second Home | Lakeland Press Agency ISBN 9780952855002 | on Woodrow Wilson's visits to the area: his mother was born in Carlisle[16] |
| 1998[10] | Mary E. Burkett & Valerie M. Rickerby | Percy Kelly: a Cumbrian Artist | Skiddaw ISBN 978-0952835622 | on Percy Kelly |
| 1999[17] | Gil and Pat Hitchon | Sam Bough, RSA: the Rivers in Bohemia | Book Guild ISBN 978-1857762303 | on Carlisle-born Sam Bough RSA |
| 2000[18] | A. Harry Griffin | The Coniston Tigers: Seventy Years of Mountain Adventure | Sigma Leisure ISBN 9781850587132 | autobiography |
| 2001[6] | John & Eileen Malden | Rex Malden's Whitehaven | Try Malden ISBN 9780953925704 | photographs by John Malden's father, vicar of Whitehaven[19] |
| 2002[20] | Ian Tyler | Cumbrian Mining | Blue Rock ISBN 978-0952302865 | in 2002 the author ran the Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum |
| 2003[21] | Cumbria Bird Club | The Breeding Birds of Cumbria: A Tetrad Atlas 1997-2001 | Cumbria Bird Club ISBN 978-0954324902 | Cumbria Bird Club |
| 2004[22] | Martin Varley | Lakeland life in the 1940s and 1950s : the photographs of Gwen Bertelsman | Halsgrove ISBN 978-1841142777 | Gwen Bertelsman ("Bertlesman" in many sources) died in 1994[23] |
| 2005[24] | Jane Renouf | The Lake Artists Society: 1904-2004 - A Centenary Celebration | Lake Artists Society ISBN 978-0954678500 | on the Lake Artists Society |
| 2006[25] | Chris Crowder; photographs by Vivian Russell | The Garden at Levens | Frances Lincoln ISBN 978-0711224346 | on Levens Hall |
| 2007[26] | Linda Lear | Beatrix Potter: A Life In Nature | Penguin ISBN 978-0141003108 | on Beatrix Potter |
| 2008[27] | Tim Longville; photographs by Val Corbett | Gardens of the Lake District | Frances Lincoln ISBN 9780711227132 | |
| 2009[28] | Keith Richardson | Ivver Sen: Lake District: The Life and Times of the Men and Women Who Work the Land | River Greta Writer ISBN 978-0955964008 | title means "Ever since" in Cumbrian dialect |
| 2010[29] | Chris Wadsworth | Hercules and the Farmer’s Wife; And Other Stories from a Cumbrian Art Gallery | Aurum Press ISBN 978-1845135546 | by owner of the Castlegate House Art Gallery in Cockermouth |
| 2011[30] | Cate Haste | Sheila Fell: a Passion for Paint | Lund Humphries ISBN 978-0853319795 | on Sheila Fell |
| 2012 joint[31][32] | David Cross | Dear Mary, Love Percy: A Creative Thread - The Illustrated Letters of Percy Kelly to Mary Burkett 1968-1993 | Skiddaw Press ISBN 978-0955964022 | letters from Percy Kelly to Mary Burkett |
| 2012 joint[31] | Keith Richardson & Val Corbett | Jack's Yak: A Unique Journey Through Time with the Special Trees of the Lake District and Cumbria and the Remarkable Stories They Have to Tell | River Greta Writer ISBN 978-0955964022 | the title tree is an oak ("yak") on the Lowther estate |
| 2013[33][34] | Stephen Matthews | A Lazy Tour in Cumberland | Bookcase ISBN 9781904147688 | when Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens visited in 1857 and wrote The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices |
| 2014[35] | Simon Temple-Bennett | Undressed for Dinner | Hayloft ISBN 9781904524984 | on turning Augill Castle into a hotel |
| 2015[36][37] | James Rebanks | The Shepherd's Life: A Tale of the Lake District | Allen Lane ISBN 9781846148545 | on sheep farming in Matterdale |
| 2016[38] | Robert Beale & Richard Kirkman | Lakeland Waterways: a history of travel along the English Lakes | Lily ISBN 9781907945861 | Beale is a Windermere Lake Cruises skipper[39] |
| 2017[40] | Rory Stewart | The Marches: Border Walks With My Father | Jonathan Cape ISBN 978-0224097680 | a walk through the Scottish Marches |
| 2018[1] | Phil Rigby | Portrait of Cumbria: Life and Landscape | CN Group ISBN 9781999771201 | photographs |
| 2019[5] | Alan Cleaver & Lesley Park | The Corpse Roads of Cumbria | Chitty Mouse Press ISBN 978-1999671808 | on corpse roads |
| 2020[41] | David Felton, Evelyn Sinclair & Andrew Chapman | The Lake District in 101 Maps and Infographics | Jake Island ISBN 978-1999894030 | Announced online 30 June 2020, no gala lunch event, because of COVID-19.[5] "The graphics cover just about everything people want to know or think they know about the Lakes".[42] |
| 2021[43] | Grace Dent | Hungry: A Memoir of Wanting More | HarperCollins ISBN 9780008333188 | autobiography |
| 2022[3] | Roger Lytollis | Panic as Man Burns Crumpets: The Vanishing World of the Local Journalist | Robinson ISBN 978-1472145796 | autobiography |
| 2023[44] | Amy Bateman | Forty Farms: Conversations about change in the landscapes of Cumbria | Jake Island ISBN 978-1915513014 | photography |
| 2024[45] | Polly Atkin | Some Of Us Just Fall | Sceptre ISBN 9781399717984 | memoir |
| 2025[46][47] | William D. Shannon | Cumbria, 1000 Years of Maps | Inspired by Lakeland ISBN 978-1-915513-05-2 | |
| 2026[48] | Sarah Hall | Helm | Faber ISBN 978-0571383559 | novel personifying the Helm Wind |