Prizes and Prize Culture in the 21st Century

Who is this course for?

Anyone who enjoys reading and discussing literature and is interested in sharing ideas and listening to the views of others.

The critic James English has observed that literary prizes are inherently “scandalous”: they are always open to accusations, whether of failing to reward genius, or rewarding a lack of talent; of elitism or over-commercialism; of inaccessibility or over-exposure. Despite, or perhaps because of these controversies, prizes have come to dominate literary culture in the twenty-first century. On this course we will look at four of Britain’s literary gongs in terms of their origins, history and purpose, and read a representative winner of each from the last twenty years. We will consider the opinions and statements of writers, readers, judges and mediators (reviewers, publishers, broadcasters) and see if we can still find and appreciate the original book, hiding beneath the layers of meaning created by an ever-expanding prize culture.

1. The Man Booker Prize, which “reward[s] the finest in fiction, highlighting great books to readers and transforming authors’ careers”: Anna Burns, Milkman (2018).

2. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, which “celebrates the very best full length fiction written by women throughout the world”: Ali Smith, How To Be Both (2015).

3. The Forward Prizes for Poetry, which “honour excellence in contemporary poetry published in UK and Ireland”: Don Paterson, Rain (2009).

4. The Portico Prize, for “the book that best evokes the spirit of the North of England”: Madeleine Bunting, The Plot: A Biography of My Father's English Acre (2009).

By the end of this course you should be able to:

• Recognise the ways prize culture influences the twenty-first century British literary marketplace

• Identify the distinctive features of four of Britain’s literary prizes

• Discuss and analyse examples of winners of those prizes.