The W H Smith Literary Award (originally the WH Smith Award) was
established in 1959 in order to "encourage and bring international
esteem to authors of the British Commonwealth" and was awarded in
respect of the author who had made "the most significant contribution
to literature" in the year under review. There were no restrictions imposed as to the age of the author, or the subject matter of their writing and past winners have included poets as well as authors of both fiction and non-fiction, and although the award was originally restricted to authors from the Commonwealth, (a definition which included, for these purposes the Irish Republic), it was later extended to include writers from the USA.
It seems unclear as to whether or not W H Smith intend to continue with this award since the announcement of the 2006 winner, as the award website no longer functions.
Past Winners
- 1959 - Patrick White, Voss
- 1960 - Laurie Lee, Cider With Rosie
- 1961 - Nadine Gordimer, Friday's Footprint
- 1962 - J. R. Ackerley, We Think the World of You
- 1963 - Gabriel Fielding, The Birthday King
- 1964 - Ernst H. Gombrich, Meditations on a
Hobby-Horse
- 1965 - Leonard Woolf, Beginning Again
- 1966 - R. Ch Hutrchinson, A Child Possessed
- 1967 - Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea
- 1968 - V. S. Naipaul, The Mimic Men
- 1969 - Robert Gittings, John Keats
- 1970 - John Fowles, The French Lieutenant's Woman
- 1971 - Nan Fairbrother, New Lives, New Landscapes
- 1972 - Kathleen Raine, The Lost Country
- 1973 - Brian Moore, Catholics
- 1974 - Anthony Powell, Temporary Kings
- 1975 - Jon Stallworthy, Wilfred Owen
- 1976 - Seamus Heaney, North
- 1977 - Ronald Lewin, Slim: The Standardbearer
- 1978 - Patrick Leigh Fermor, A Time of Gifts
- 1979 - Mark Girouard, Life in the English Country
House
- 1980 - Thom Gunn, Selected Poems 1959-1975
- 1981 - Isabel Colegate, The Shooting Party
- 1982 - George Clare, Last Waltz in Vienna
- 1983 - A. N. Wilson, Wise Virgin
- 1984 - Philip Larkin, Required Writing
- 1985 - David Hughes, The Pork Butcher
- 1986 - Doris Lessing, The Good Terrorist
- 1987 - Elizabeth Jennings, Collected Poems
1953-1985
- 1988 - Robert Hughes, The Fatal Shore
- 1989 - Christopher Hill, A Turbulent, Seditious and Factious
People: John Bunyan and His Church
- 1990 - V. S. Pritchett, A Careless Widow and Other
Stories
- 1991 - Derek Walcott, Omeros
- 1992 - Thomas Pakenham, The Scramble for Africa
- 1993 - Michèle Roberts, Daughters of the House
- 1994 - Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy
- 1995 - Alice Munro, Open Secrets
- 1996 - Simon Schama, Landscape and Memory
- 1997 - Orlando Figes, A People's Tragedy - The Russian
Revolution
- 1998 - Ted Hughes, Tales From Ovid
- 1999 - Beryl Bainbridge, Master Georgie
- 2000 - Melvyn Bragg, The Soldier's Return
- 2001 - Philip Roth, The Human Stain
- 2002 - Ian McEwan, Atonement
- 2003 - Donna Tartt, The Little Friend
- 2004 - Richard Powers, The Time of Our Singing
- 2005 - Philip Roth, The Plot Against America
- 2006 - J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half Blood
Prince
REFERENCES
www.unca.edu/~moseley/smith.html
http://www.goodreadingmagazine.com.au/books.cfm?award=52
http://www.bexley.gov.uk/service/lib-whsmithaward.html
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