Society of Authors' Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize

In memory of Malcolm Lowry and endowed by Gordon Bowker, his biographer, and Ramdei Bowker.

A prize awarded to a UK or Irish writer, or a writer currently resident in those countries, for a novel focusing on the experience of travel away from home.

Inspired by Malcolm Lowry’s novel, Under the Volcano and in celebration of its author, the prize aims to inspire literary excellence and encourage writers to travel and to write from the resulting experience.

The winner will receive £2,000 and the runner-up £750.

WINNER 2023

The return of Faraz Ali

Ahmad, Aamina ISBN: 9781529356038
Paperback / softback

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Yaa Gyasi Pakistan, 1968. As riots erupt in the streets of Lahore, Inspector Faraz Ali returns to his birthplace, the red-light district in the walled inner city. Wrested from it as a child by his powerful father to be raised by a respectable family, Faraz has hidden his roots ever since. Now his father has sent him back: to cover up the murder of a young courtesan. It should be a simple task, but for once Faraz finds himself unable to obey orders - nor can he resist searching for the mother and sister he left behind. Chasing after answers that risk shattering his precariously constructed existence, Faraz is unaware that his sister also faces a return to the old city, and to the life she thought she had escaped. 

- Browns Books Synopsis

We also administer two awards that celebrate the best in non-fiction writing from young authors. Our poetry awards are amongst the most prestigious in the UK. They celebrate excellence in poetry from those just starting out as well those established in their careers.