1991 Brazzaville Beach William Boyd
1992 Scotland’s Music John Purser
1993 Landscapes and Memories John Prebble
1994 Foreign Parts Janice Galloway
1995 Something Very Like Murder Frank Kuppner
1996 Stone Garden and Other Stories Alan Spence
1997 Oideachadh Ceart agus dáin ede/A Proper Schooling Aonghas MacNeacail
1998 The Good Times James Kelman Virtual and Other Realities Edwin Morgan
SALTIRE SOCIETY SCOTTISH BOOK OF THE YEAR
1996 The Kiln William McIlvanney
1997 Grace Notes Bernard MacLaverty
1998 The Sopranos Alan Warner
1999 Pursuits George Bruce
2000 The Lantern Bearers: A Novel Ronald Frame
2001 Medea Liz Lochhead
2002 Clara: A Novel Janice Galloway
2003 Joseph Knight James Robertson
2004 In Another Light Andrew Greig
2005 Case Histories Kate Atkinson
2006 A Lie About my Father John Burnside
2007 Day A. L. Kennedy
2008 Kieron Smith, boy James Kelman
2009 The Bard: Robert Burns, A Biography Robert Crawford
2010 And the Land Lay Still James Robertson
WHITBREAD NOVEL AWARD
The Whitbread Book Awards are made up of six awards: first novel, novel, biography, poetry and children’s. The winners of each adult category then go forward to the Whitbread Book of the Year Award. Author must have been resident in the UK or the Republic of Ireland for three years. Since 2006 this award has been called the Costa Novel Award
1971 The Destiny Waltz Gerda Charles
1972 The Bird of the Night Susan Hill
1973 The Chip Chip Gatherers Shiva Naipaul
1974 The Sacred and Profane Love Machine Iris Murdoch
1975 Docherty William McIlvanney
1976 The Children of Dynmouth William Trevor
1977 Injury Time Beryl Bainbridge
1978 Picture Palace Paul Theroux
1979 The Old Jest Jennifer Johnston
1980 How Far Can You Go? David Lodge (and Book of the Year)
1981 Silver’s City Maurice Leitch
1982 Young Shoulders John Wain
1983 Fools of Fortune William Trevor
1984 Kruger’s Alp Christopher Hope
1985 Hawksmoor Peter Ackroyd
1986 An Artist of the Floating World Kazuo Ishiguro (and Book of the Year)
1987 The Child in Time Ian McEwan
1988 The Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie
1989 The Chymical Wedding Lindsay Clarke
1990 Hopeful Monsters Nicholas Mosley (and Book of the Year)
1991 The Queen of the Tambourine Jane Gardam
1992 Poor Things Alasdair Gray
1993 Theory of War Joan Brady (and Book of the Year)
1994 Felicia’s Journey William Trevor (and Book of the Year)
1995 The Moor’s Last Sigh Salman Rushdie
1996 Every Man for Himself Beryl Bainbridge
1997 Quarantine Jim Crace
1998 Leading the Cheers Justin Cartwright
1999 Music and Silence Rose Tremain
2000 English Passengers Matthew Kneale
2001 Twelve-Bar Blues Patrick Neate
2002 Spies Michael Frayn
2003 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Mark Haddon
2004 Small Island Andea Levy
2005 The Accidental Ali Smith (Here renamed the Costa Novel Award)
2006 Restless William Boyd
2007 Day A. L. Kennedy
2008 The Secret Scripture Sebastian Barry
2009 Brooklyn Colm Tóibín
2010 The Hand That First Held Mine Maggie O’Farrell
WHITBREAD FIRST NOVEL AWARD
Author must have been resident in the UK or the Republic of Ireland for three years. Renamed the Costa First Novel Award in 2006.
1981 A Good Man in Africa William Boyd
1982 On the Black Hill Bruce Chatwin
1983 Flying to Nowhere John Fuller
1984 A Parish of Rich Women James Buchan
1985 Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Jeanette Winterson
1986 Continent Jim Crace
1987 The Other Garden Francis Wyndham
1988 The Comfort of Madness Paul Sayer (and Book of the Year)
1989 Gerontius James Hamilton-Paterson
1990 The Buddha of Suburbia Hanif Kureishi
1991 Alma Cogan (US: Alma: A Novel) Gordon Burn
1992 Swing Hammer Swing! Jeff Torrington (and Book of the Year)
1993 Saving Agnes Rachel Cusk
1994 The Longest Memory: A Novel Fred D’Aguiar
1995 Behind the Scenes at the Museum Kate Atkinson (and Book of the Year)
1996 The Debt to Pleasure John Lanchester
1997 The Ventriloquist’s Tale Pauline Melville
1998 The Last King of Scotland Giles Foden
1999 White City Blues Tim Lott
2000 White Teeth Zadie Smith
2001 Something Like a House Sid Smith
2002 The Song of Names Norman Lebrecht
2003 Vernon God Little D. B. C. Pierre
2004 Eve Green Susan Fletcher
2005 The Harmony Silk Factory Tash Aw
2006 The Tenderness of Wolves Stef Penney
2007 What Was Lost Catherine O’Flynn
2008 The Outcast Sadie Jones
2009 Beauty Raphael Selbourne
2010 Witness the Night Kishwar Desai
Acknowledgements
COLM TÓIBÍN
Aidan Dunne; Anne Enright; Mary Mount; Andrew O’Hagan; Jon Riley; The London Library; The Library of Trinity College, Dublin.
CARMEN CALLIL
All my friends helped me with this book, and I am grateful to them for their suggestions, advice, conversations and for listening to me. Special thanks to:
Tariq Ali; Hanan Al Shaykh; Christine Bell; Liz Calder; Lorraine Callil; Susannah Clapp; Frances Coady; John Cox; David Davidar, Penguin Books, India; Polly Devlin; Peter Eyre; Bob Gottlieb; Sandy Grant; Kate Griffin; Clare Harman; Philippa Harrison; John Hayes; Michael Healy, The Cornstalk Bookshop, Sydney, Australia; Michael Herr; Michael Holroyd; Helena Ivins; Pat Kavanagh; Helena Kennedy; Hermione Lee; Suzanne Lowry; Roger Mackell, Gleebooks, Sydney, Australia; Mary Mackintosh and all at the Elgin Bookshop, London W11; Anthony McConnell; Hilary McPhee; David Matthews; Sonny Mehta; Di Melly; Tom Melly; Caroline Michel; Ivan Nabokov; The North Kensington Library, London W11; Craig Raine; Gail Rebuck; Jon Riley; Ann Victoria Roberts; Deborah Rogers; John Ryle; Alison Samuel; Harriet Spicer; Jenny Uglow; Caroline Upcher; Marina Warner; Joshua White; Kitty Wishart, University Bookshop, Auckland, New Zealand; to my agent Gill Coleridge and Ursula Doyle of Picador; and in particular to Max Lowry, aged eighteen when I started this book, whose relish for rock music and bad videos prompted me to provide him and his generation with this pointer, to one of the oldest and best entertainments of all.