Somerset Maugham Award

The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors. Set up by William Somerset Maugham in 1947 the awards enable young writers to enrich their work by gaining experience in foreign countries. The awards go to writers under the age of 35<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with works published in the year before the award; the work can be either non-fiction, fiction or poetry.<ref name="Society of Authors">Template:Cite web</ref>

Since 1964 multiple winners have usually been chosen in the same year. In 1975 and in 2012 the award was not given.<ref name="Library Thing">Template:Cite web</ref>

List of winners

1940s

Somerset Maugham Award winners, 1947–1949<ref name=":1" />

Year	Author	Title	Publisher
1947	Template:Sortname	Innocents	Hogarth Press
1948	Template:Sortname	Journey to the Interior	Jonathan Cape
1949	Template:Sortname	Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica	John Lehmann

1950s

Somerset Maugham Award winners, 1950–1959<ref name=":1" />

Year	Author	Title	Publisher	Ref.
1950	Template:Sortname	Tomato Cain & Other Stories	Collins
1951	Template:Sortname	Scamp	John Lehmann
1952	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Longman
1953	Template:Sortname	Hear and Forgive	Gollancz
1954	Template:Sortname	Five Short Novels	Michael Joseph
1955	Template:Sortname	Lucky Jim	Gollancz
1956	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Deutsch
1957	Template:Sortname	In the Castle of My Skin	Michael Joseph	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1958	Template:Sortname	Preliminary Essays	Macmillan
1959	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Faber and Faber

1990s

Somerset Maugham Award winners, 1990–1999<ref name=":1" />

Year	Author	Title	Publisher	Ref.
1990	Template:Sortname	Our Grandmothers' Drums	Secker & Warburg
	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Secker & Warburg	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Collins Harvill
1991	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Macmillan	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Template:Sortname	Honour Thy Father	Secker & Warburg	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Template:Sortname	Four Bare Legs in a Bed	Heinemann
1992	Template:Sortname	But Beautiful	Jonathan Cape	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
	Template:Sortname	Lempriere’s Dictionary	S. Stevenson
	Template:Sortname	Householder	Chatto & Windus
1993	Template:Sortname	Jella	Gollancz
	Template:Sortname	Out of the Rain	Bloodaxe Books	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
	Template:Sortname	Bucket of Tongues	Secker & Warburg	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1994	Template:Sortname	Other Lovers	Bloodaxe Books
	Template:Sortname	Looking for the Possible Dance	Secker & Warburg
	Template:Sortname	Crossing Place	HarperCollins
1995	Template:Sortname	Younghusband	HarperCollins	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Faber and Faber
	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Bloodaxe Books	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Chatto & Windus	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1996	Template:Sortname	Truffle Beds	Faber and Faber	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Template:Sortname	Morvern Callar	Vintage	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1997	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Flamingo
	Template:Sortname	Slattern	Chatto & Windus	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
	Template:Sortname	Kitchen Venom	Hamish Hamilton
	Template:Sortname	I May Be Some Time	Faber and Faber
1998	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Picador, Macmillan	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
	Template:Sortname	This Bloody Mary is the Last Thing I Own	Faber and Faber
	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Fourth Estate
	Template:Sortname	Angry White Pyjamas	Indigo
1999	Template:Sortname	Once In a House On Fire	Picador, Macmillan
	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Picador, Macmillan
	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Faber and Faber
	Template:Sortname	Bring Home the Revolution	Fourth Estate

2010s

Somerset Maugham Award winners, 2010–2019<ref name=":1" />

Year	Author	Title	Publisher	Prize	Ref.
2010	Template:Sortname	What Price Liberty?	Faber and Faber	£2,000	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Template:Sortname	White is for Witching	Picador	£3,000	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
	Template:Sortname	Talk of the Town	Picador	£5,000	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2011	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Bloodaxe	£3,500
	Template:Sortname	Romantic Moderns	Thames and Hudson	£3,500
	Template:Sortname	In the Flesh	Chatto Poetry	£3,500	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2012	No award given				<ref name=":3" />
2013	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Sceptre	£2,500	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Salt	£2,500
	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Cape	£2,500
	Template:Sortname	Diving Belles	Bloomsbury	£2,500
2014	Template:Sortname	Orkney	Granta	£2,000
	Template:Sortname	Hunters in the Snow Glass Delusion	Cape	£4,000
	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Simon & Schuster	£4,000	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2015	Template:Sortname	How to Ruin a Queen: Marie Antoinette, the Stolen Diamonds and the Scandal that Shook the French Throne	John Murray	£2,500	<ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref>
	Template:Sortname	Black Country	Chatto & Windus	£2,500	<ref name=":2" />
	Template:Sortname	Lolito	Canongate Books	£2,500	<ref name=":2" />
	Template:Sortname	Eat My Heart Out	Serpent’s Tail	£2,500	<ref name=":2" />
2016	Template:Sortname	An Account Of The Decline Of The Great Auk, According To One Who Saw It	JM Originals	£2,500
	Template:Sortname	Mr & Mrs Disraeli: A Strange Romance	Chatto & Windus	£2,500
	Template:Sortname	Physical	Cape Poetry	£2,500	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
	Template:Sortname	We Don’t Know What We’re Doing	Faber and Faber	£2,500
	Template:Sortname	Happiness	Faber and Faber	£2,500
2017	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Vintage	£5,000	<ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref>
	Template:Sortname	Sunshine	Penned in the Margins	£5,000	<ref name=":4" />
	Template:Sortname	Infinite Ground	Atlantic Books	£5,000
2018	Template:Sortname	Kumukanda	Chatto Poetry	£5,250	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
	Template:Sortname	Elmet	JM Originals	£5,250
	Template:Sortname	All the Prayers in the House	Bloodaxe	£5,250
2019	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Penned in the Margins	£4,000	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Chatto & Windus	£4,000
	Template:Sortname	Shrines of Upper Austria	Carcanet	£4,000
	Template:Sortname	Mrs Gaskell and Me	Picador	£4,000

2020s

Somerset Maugham Award winners, 2020–present<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref>

Year	Author	Title	Publisher	Ref.
2020	Template:Sortname	Michael Tippett: The Biography	Weidenfeld & Nicolson/Orion
	Template:Sortname	Moder Dy	Birlinn/Polygon
	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Dialogue Books/Little, Brown & Co.
	Template:Sortname	Unicorn	4th Estate
2021	Template:Sortname	Dark, Salt, Clear	Bloomsbury
	Template:Sortname	Ripe	Ignition Press
	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Okapi Books
	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Pan Macmillan/Picador	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2022	Template:Sortname	Amnion	Granta, Granta Poetry	<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
	Template:Sortname	Keeping the House	And Other Stories	<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Template:Sortname	My Body Keeps Your Secrets	Indigo Press	<ref name=":0" />
	Template:Sortname	Open Water	Penguin Random House/Viking Press	<ref name=":0" />
	Template:Sortname	Overrun by Wild Boars	Flipped Eye Publishing	<ref name=":0" />
2023	Template:Sortname	None of the Above	Canongate	<ref name=":5">Template:Cite web</ref>
	Template:Sortname	To Fill a Yellow House	Phoenix Books	<ref name=":5" />
	Template:Sortname	Birdgirl	Penguin	<ref name=":5" />
	Template:Sortname	Imperium	Carcanet	<ref name=":5" />
	Template:Sortname	We Move	Profile	<ref name=":5" />
	Template:Sortname	Template:Sort	Wildfire	<ref name=":5" />
2024	Template:Sortname	Anamesis		<ref name=":6">Template:Cite web</ref>
	Template:Sortname	Bad Diaspora Poems		<ref name=":6" />
	Template:Sortname	Twilight Cities		<ref name=":6" />
	Template:Sortname	Wandering Souls		<ref name=":6" />
	Template:Sortname	Herc	HarperCollins/HQ Stories	<ref name=":6" />
2025	Jo Hamya	The Hypocrite		<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Ashani Lewis	Winter Animals
	Jason Okundaye	Revolutionary Acts: Love & Brotherhood in Black Gay Britain
	Charlotte Shevchenko Night	Food for the Dead