Books blog + Alexandra Harris | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog+alexandra-harris Index en-gb Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2017 Sun, 23 Jul 2017 17:38:33 GMT 2017-07-23T17:38:33Z en-gb Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2017 The Guardian https://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.png https://www.theguardian.com Guardian first book award: 16 years of talent-spotting https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/may/12/the-guardian-first-book-award-16-years-of-talent-spotting <p>As nominations for 2015 open, it’s a good time to remember that the prize isn’t just the sum of its winners but of all the shortlisted stars of the future</p><p>• <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/12/how-to-enter-the-guardian-first-book-award-2015">How to enter the Guardian first book award</a></p><p>When the Guardian first book award was launched in 1999, Zadie Smith was a smart student still waiting to be published, and a shocking account of the Rwandan genocide <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/dec/03/guardianfirstbookaward1999.gurardianfirstbookaward">caused a stand-off</a> between judges and reading groups before narrowly beating David Mitchell’s first novel to the inaugural prize.</p><p>The Rwanda book was Philip Gourevitch’s magisterial <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/mar/13/guardianfirstbookaward1999.gurardianfirstbookaward">We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families</a>. Mitchell’s debut was <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/aug/08/guardianfirstbookaward1999.guardianfirstbookaward">Ghostwritten</a>, which some fans still maintain is his finest work, and Smith would burst on to the literary scene in 2000 to take the prize with <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jan/22/fiction.zadiesmith">White Teeth</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/may/12/the-guardian-first-book-award-16-years-of-talent-spotting">Continue reading...</a> Guardian first book award 2015 Guardian first book award Books Awards and prizes Culture Zadie Smith NoViolet Bulawayo Siddhartha Mukherjee Alexandra Harris Ned Beauman Petina Gappah Eleanor Catton Rajiv Chandrasekaran Hisham Matar Robert Macfarlane Monica Ali DBC Pierre Hari Kunzru Chris Ware Glen David Gold Dave Eggers Naomi Klein David Mitchell Tue, 12 May 2015 16:25:57 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/may/12/the-guardian-first-book-award-16-years-of-talent-spotting Photograph: Eamonn McCabe Photograph: Eamonn McCabe Claire Armitstead 2015-05-12T16:25:57Z First book award shows appetite for serious reading https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/dec/01/first-book-award-serious-reading Alexandra Harris's Romantic Moderns is unashamedly complex, but contrary to prevalent assumptions, this doesn't need to put readers off<p>Alexandra Harris's Romantic Moderns is unashamedly academic and it deals with the difficult subject of Englishness. It would seem, one judge remarked, to be a counterintuitive <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/01/guardian-first-book-award-romantic-moderns" title="">winner of the Guardian first book award</a>. But the first print run sold out within a month of publication and it got the second highest overall score from the Waterstone's reading groups involved in the judging. Something interesting is clearly happening, but what?</p><p>When I first spotted <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/sep/25/romantic-moderns-alexandra-harris" title="">Romantic Moderns</a> in a dowdy proof way before publication I was reminded of the moment in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, when the thaw sets in and the entire landscape begins to change in ways that are only discernible from the sound of dripping water. It's the job of prizes to reflect the drip of change and I think this year's prizes have shown that the literary landcape is shifting in profound ways.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/dec/01/first-book-award-serious-reading">Continue reading...</a> Guardian first book award Awards and prizes Books Art and design Literary criticism Culture Romantic Moderns Alexandra Harris Guardian first book award 2010 Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:00:06 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/dec/01/first-book-award-serious-reading Photograph: PR Difficult terrain ... detail from the cover of Romantic Moderns by Alexandra Harris Photograph: PR Difficult terrain ... detail from the cover of Romantic Moderns by Alexandra Harris Claire Armitstead 2010-12-01T20:00:06Z
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