13/11/2001

2001 Whitbread Book Awards Shortlists

Embargo: Not for publication or broadcast before 00.00 hours on Wednesday 14 November 2001

2001 WHITBREAD BOOK AWARDS SHORTLISTS

- Increase in total prize fund to £50,000 - one of the largest prize funds in UK - Whitbread Book of the Year winner will receive a total of £30,000
- Two Booker nominees on shortlist for Whitbread Novel Award: Ian McEwan (Atonement) and Andrew Miller (Oxygen)
- 107 books submitted for Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year - the highest ever, including Philip Pullman (The Amber Spyglass) and ex-Monty Python member, Terry Jones (The Lady and the Squire)

Whitbread, the UK’s leading leisure company, is delighted to announce today the shortlists for the 2001 Whitbread Book Awards, featuring some of the most enjoyable and acclaimed books of the past year. Comprising the Whitbread Awards for Novel, First Novel, Poetry, Biography and Children’s Book of the Year (worth £5,000 each), entries for the awards this year totalled 414 books, with the highest number of entries ever in the children’s category.

Established by Whitbread in 1971, the Whitbread Book Awards encourage readers to enjoy the very best in contemporary British writing. This year, Whitbread has announced a new strapline - enjoy!reading - and new partnerships - with amazon.co.uk, the Library Association, the National Reading Campaign, Mencap and the Booksellers Association - to actively promote the enjoyment of reading.

The winner of the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year will also be eligible for the overall Whitbread Book of the Year award. The four category Award winners in Novel, First Novel, Biography and Poetry will be announced on Friday 4th January 2001. The winner of the Whitbread Children’s Book and Book of the Year will be selected and announced on Tuesday 22nd January 2002 at the Whitbread Book Awards ceremony at the Brewery.

In alphabetical order by author the shortlists are:

2001 Whitbread Novel Award shortlist (4 books)
The Siege Helen Dunmore, Viking
Atonement Ian McEwan, Jonathan Cape
Oxygen Andrew Miller, Sceptre
Twelve Bar Blues Patrick Neate, Viking

2001 Whitbread First Novel Award shortlist (4 books)
The Oversight Will Eaves, Picador
Something Like A House Sid Smith, Picador
Burning Worm Carl Tighe, IMPress
August Gerard Woodward, Chatto and Windus

2001 Whitbread Poetry Award shortlist (4 books)
The Age of Cardboard and String Charles Boyle, Faber & Faber
If I don’t know Wendy Cope, Faber & Faber
Bunny Selima Hill, Bloodaxe
Panoramic Lounge-Bar John Stammers, Picador

2001 Whitbread Biography Award shortlist (4 books)
A View of Delft Anthony Bailey, Chatto and Windus
Boswell’s Presumptuous Task Adam Sisman, Hamish Hamilton
Selkirk’s Island Diana Souhami, Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Flaubert: A Life Geoffrey Wall, Faber & Faber

2001 Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year shortlist (4 books)
Artemis Fowl Eoin Colfer, Penguin
Journey to the River Sea Eva Ibbotson, Macmillan
The Lady and the Squire Terry Jones, Pavilion Books
The Amber Spyglass Philip Pullman, Scholastic

Please return to Press Releases for details on each of the shortlists.

ENDS

For further information please contact Sunita Rappai at Karen Earl Ltd Telephone: 020 7243 7127 (direct line) or email: [email protected]

Notes for Editors:
Photography of authors and bookjackets is available royalty-free from website www.whitbread-bookawards.co.uk. High-resolution photography suitable for media reproduction. Please contact Sunita Rappai for password details on 020 7243 7127.

1. To be eligible for the awards, books must have been published in the UK or Eire between 1 November 2000 and 31 October 2001. Authors must have been domiciled in the UK or Eire since November 1999.
2. The total prize fund for the Whitbread Book of the Year/Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year now stands at £50,000 - the largest prize fund in the UK. The award winners from the five categories - Novel, First Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s - each receive £5,000.
3. The overall Whitbread Book of the Year is selected from the four category Award winners and the winner of the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year, and the winner receives a further £25,000.

<< back to press releases