Ackerley Prize
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates The TLS Ackerley Prize is awarded annually to a literary autobiography of excellence, written by an author of British nationality and published during the preceding year. The winner receives £4,000.
The prize was established by Nancy West, née Ackerley, sister of English author and editor J. R. Ackerley. It was first awarded in 1982.
The prize is judged by the trustees of the J. R. Ackerley Trust; biographer and historian Peter Parker (Chair), the biographer and critic Claire Harman, and the writer and editor Michael Caines.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There is no formal submission process for the award — judges simply "call in" books to be added to their longlist.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Former judges include the novelist Francis King, the biographer Michael Holroyd, the editor of Ackerley’s letters, Neville Braybrooke, food writer and historian Colin Spencer, the biographer and historian Richard Davenport-Hines and the novelist and short story writer Georgina Hammick.
In 2023, the Prize’s long partnership with English PEN, when it was known as the PEN Ackerley Prize, came to an end. The award reverted to its original name of the Ackerley Prize.
In 2024, the Prize formed a partnership with the Times Literary Supplement and was renamed the TLS Ackerley Prize.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Recipients
- 1982: Edward Blishen, Shaky Relations<ref name="Prizewinners List">Template:Cite web</ref>
- 1983: Joint winners:
- Kathleen Dayus, Her People<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- Ted Walker, High Path<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 1984: Richard Cobb, Still Life<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 1985: Angelica Garnett, Deceived with Kindness<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 1986: Dan Jacobson, Time and Time Again<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 1987: Diana Athill, After the Funeral<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 1988: Anthony Burgess, Little Wilson and Big God<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 1989: John Healy, The Grass Arena<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 1990: Germaine Greer, Daddy We Hardly Knew You<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 1991: Paul Binding, St Martin's Ride<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 1992: John Osborne, Almost a Gentleman<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 1993: Barry Humphries, More, Please<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 1994: Blake Morrison, When Did You Last See Your Father?<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 1995: Paul Vaughan, Something in Linoleum<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 1996: Eric Lomax, The Railway Man<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 1997: Tim Lott, The Scent of Dried Roses<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 1998: Katrin Fitzherbert, True to Both Myselves<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 1999: Margaret Forster, Precious Lives<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 2000: Mark Frankland, Child of My Time<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 2001: Lorna Sage, Bad Blood<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 2002: Michael Foss, Out of India: A Raj Childhood<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 2003: Jenny Diski, Stranger on a Train<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 2004: Bryan Magee, Clouds of Glory: A Hoxton Childhood<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 2005: Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy, Half an Arch<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 2006: Alan Bennett, Untold Stories<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 2007: Brian Thompson, Keeping Mum<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 2008: Miranda Seymour, In My Father's House<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 2009: Julia Blackburn, The Three of Us<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 2010: Gabriel Weston, Direct Red: A Surgeon's View of Her Life-or-Death Profession<ref name="Prizewinners List"/>
- 2011: Michael Frayn, My Father’s Fortune<ref name="Prizewinners List"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 2012: Duncan Fallowell, How to Disappear<ref name="Prizewinners List"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 2013: Richard Holloway, Leaving Alexandria: A Memoir of Faith and Doubt (Canongate)<ref name="Prizewinners List"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 2014: Sonali Deraniyagala, Wave (Virago)<ref name="Prizewinners List"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 2015: Henry Marsh, Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)<ref name="Prizewinners List"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 2016: Alice Jolly, Dead Babies and Seaside Towns<ref name="Prizewinners List"/><ref>Cowdrey, Katherine (13 July 2016),"Alice Jolly's crowdfunded memoir wins PEN Ackerley Prize", The Bookseller.</ref>
- 2017: Amy Liptrot, The Outrun (Canongate)<ref name="Prizewinners List"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 2018: Richard Beard, The Day That Went Missing (Harvill Secker)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 2019: Yrsa Daley-Ward, The Terrible (Penguin)<ref name="Prizewinners List"/><ref>Chandler, Mark (10 July 2019), "Daley-Ward wins PEN Ackerley Prize", The Bookseller. Retrieved 12 July 2019.</ref>
- 2020: Alison Light, A Radical Romance: A Memoir of Love, Grief and Consolation (Fig Tree)<ref name="Prizewinners List"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 2021: Claire Wilcox, Patch Work: A Life Amongst Clothes (Bloomsbury)<ref name="Prizewinners List"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 2022: Frances Stonor Saunders, The Suitcase: Six Attempts to Cross a Border (Jonathan Cape)<ref name="Prizewinners List"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- 2023: Nancy Campbell, Thunderstone: Finding Shelter From the Storm (Elliott & Thompson)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 2024: Catherine Taylor, The Stirrings: A Memoir in Northern Time (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>