Ondaatje Prize
Encyclopedia
The Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize is an annual literary award
given by the Royal Society of Literature
. The £10,000 award is given for a work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry which evokes the "spirit of a place", and which is written by someone who is a citizen of or who has been resident in the Commonwealth
or the Republic of Ireland
.
The prize bears the name of its benefactor Christopher Ondaatje
. The prize incorporates the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize which was presented up to 2002 for regional fiction.
Literary award
A literary award is an award presented to an author who has written a particularly lauded piece or body of work. There are awards for forms of writing ranging from poetry to novels. Many awards are also dedicated to a certain genre of fiction or non-fiction writing . There are also awards...
given by the Royal Society of Literature
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
. The £10,000 award is given for a work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry which evokes the "spirit of a place", and which is written by someone who is a citizen of or who has been resident in the Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
or the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
.
The prize bears the name of its benefactor Christopher Ondaatje
Christopher Ondaatje
Sir Philip Christopher Ondaatje, OC, CBE is a Sri Lankan-Canadian businessman, philanthropist, adventurer, writer and Olympian. He lives in the United Kingdom.-Overview:...
. The prize incorporates the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize which was presented up to 2002 for regional fiction.
Recipients
- 2011 — Edmund de WaalEdmund de WaalEdmund Arthur Lowndes de Waal OBE is a British ceramic artist, and author of The Hare with Amber Eyes . He has worked as a curator, lecturer, art critic and art historian and is a Professor of Ceramics at the University of Westminster. He has received several awards and honours for his...
, The Hare with Amber EyesThe Hare with Amber EyesThe Hare with Amber Eyes is a family memoir by British ceramicist Edmund de Waal. Waal tells the story of his family the Ephrussi, who were once a very wealthy European Jewish banking dynasty centered in Odessa, Vienna and Paris, peers of the Rothschild family. The Ephrussi lost almost everything... - 2010 — Ian Thomson, The Dead Yard: Tales of Modern Jamaica
- 2009 — Adam NicolsonAdam NicolsonAdam Nicolson, Baron Carnock, FRSL, FSA , is a British author who writes about English history, landscape and the sea....
, Sissinghurst: an Unfinished History - 2008 — Graham RobbGraham RobbGraham Macdonald Robb FRSL is a British author.Robb was born in Manchester and educated at the Royal Grammar School Worcester and Exeter College, Oxford, where he studied Modern Languages...
, The Discovery of FranceThe Discovery of FranceThe Discovery of France: A Historical Geography, from the Revolution to the First World War is a book by Graham Robb. It was published in the United Kingdom by Picador in September 2007 and in the United States by W. W. Norton and Company in October 2007... - 2007 — Hisham MatarHisham MatarHisham Matar is a Libyan author. His debut novel In the Country of Men was shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize. Matar’s essays have appeared in the Asharq Alawsat, The Independent, The Guardian, The Times and The New York Times. His second novel, Anatomy of a Disappearance, was published on...
, In the Country of MenIn the Country of MenIn the Country of Men is the debut novel from Libyan author Hisham Matar, first published in 2006 by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Books. It was nominated for the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the Guardian First Book Award. It has so far been translated into 22 languages and was awarded the 2007 Royal... - 2006 — James MeekJames Meek (author)James Meek is a British writer and journalist. He was born in London and grew up in Dundee, Scotland.Meek spent several years living in the former Soviet Union in the 1990s and now resides in London. He has published four novels and two short story collections. In 2004 he was named Foreign...
— The People's Act of Love - 2005 — Rory StewartRory StewartRoderick 'Rory' James Nugent Stewart OBE FRSL MP DUniv is a British academic, author, and Conservative politician. Since May 2010, he has been the Member of Parliament for Penrith and the Border, in the county of Cumbria, North West England.- Overview :Stewart was a senior coalition official in a...
, The Places In BetweenThe Places in BetweenThe Places in Between is a travel narrative by Scottish author Rory Stewart about his solo walk across north-central Afghanistan in 2002. Stewart started in Herat and ended in Kabul following the Hari River from west to east. Along the way he travels through some of the most rugged, isolated and... - 2004 — Louisa Waugh, Hearing Birds Fly