The Writer’s Poetry Prize

First awarded in 2014 (originally known as The Folio Prize and then the Rathbones Folio Prize), the Writer’s Prize is open to all works of literature written in English and published in the UK, and is worth over £30,000. All genres and all forms of literature are eligible, except work written primarily for children.

The Prize is unique in that it is nominated and judged exclusively by members of the Folio Academy of esteemed writers and critics. The 2024 Prize will include category finalists in Fiction, Non-Fiction & Poetry.

WINNER 2024

The Home Child

Berry, Liz ISBN: 9781784742683
Hardback

Add to Basket

In 1908, Eliza Showell, twelve years old and newly orphaned, boards a ship that will carry her from the slums of the Black Country to rural Nova Scotia. She will never return to Britain or see her family again. She is a Home Child, one of thousands of British children sent to Canada to work as indentured farm labourers and domestic servants. In Nova Scotia, Eliza's world becomes a place where ordinary things are transfigured into treasures - a red ribbon, the feel of a foal's mane, the sound of her name on someone else's lips. With nothing to call her own, the wild beauty of Cape Breton is the only solace Eliza has - until another Home Child, a boy, comes to the farm and changes everything. Inspired by the true story of Liz Berry's great aunt, this spellbinding novel in verse is an exquisite portrait of a girl far from home.

- Browns Books Synopsis

SHORTLIST 2024

Allen-Paisant, Jason ISBN: 9781800173101
Paperback / softback

Add to Basket

Berry, Liz ISBN: 9781784742683
Hardback

Add to Basket

Chan, Mary Jean ISBN: 9780571378906
Paperback / softback

Add to Basket

Each year, three or five members of the Academy will be invited to judge the Prize. The sole criterion for judgment will be excellence: to identify works of literature in which the subjects being explored achieve their most perfect and thrilling expression. The judges consider a total of 60 books, which will be nominated by the Academy. Further books will be called-in from publishers; from these call-ins, the judges can make a total of 20 selections, bringing the total number of books under consideration to 80. In 2023, the judges will create three distinct shortlists from these 80 titles in Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry. Each category winner, selected from a shortlist of five, will receive a £2,000 prize. One book will then be crowned overall Rathbones Folio Prize winner, with the author receiving an additional £30,000. The shortlist winners and overall winner will be announced at the annual Rathbones Folio Prize ceremony and presented with a cheque for their Prize money.