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Giles St Aubyn Awards for Non-Fiction

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The Royal Society of Literature Giles St Aubyn Awards for Non-Fiction[1] are annual awards, granted by the Royal Society of Literature (RSL) to authors engaged in writing their first non-fiction book for a mainstream audience. The prize provides additional time or resources for writing or research, as well as raising the profile of the book when published.

Recipients must have a publishing contract and be citizens of either the UK or Ireland, or have been residents in one of these for at least the three years previous to the award.[2]

The award was established in 2017, and secured in perpetuity through a bequest from author and RSL Fellow Giles St Aubyn. The awards replaced the earlier RSL Jerwood Award, which existed from 2004 to 2016 and was funded by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation.[3]

Giles St Aubyn (1925-2015) wrote 14 non-fiction books and taught history for nearly 40 years at Eton College. A nephew of Vita Sackville-West, he counted John Betjeman, John le Carré and The Queen Mother among his friends.[4]

Recipients

[edit]
List of recipients, titles and publishers
Year 1st prize
£10,000
2nd prize
£5000
3rd prize
£2500 (from 2020)
Judges
2023 Oliver Basciano
Outcast: A History of Us Through Leprosy
(Faber & Faber)
Taj Ali
Come What May, We’re Here to Stay: A Story of South Asian Resistance
(Manchester University Press)
Katherine Dunn
Right Here, Right Now: The Hidden History of How the Global Positioning System Shaped the Modern World
(Mudlark, Harper Collins)
Tom Burgis
Fiona St Aubyn
Leila Aboulela
2022 Nuzha Nuseibeh
Namesake
(Canongate, 2023)
Ellen Atlanta
Pixel Flesh: Modern Beauty Culture and The Women It Harms
(Headline, Hachette, 2023)
Malachi McIntosh
A Revolutionary Consciousness: Black Britain, Black Power, and the Caribbean Artists Movement
(Faber, 2025)
Homi K. Bhahba
Fiona St Aubyn
Violet Moller
2021 Tomiwa Owolade
This is Not America
(Atlantic Books, 2022)
Tom Ireland
The Good Virus
(Hodder & Stoughton, 2022)
David Veevers
A New History of the World at the Dawn of British Expansion
(Penguin Random House/Ebury, 2022)
Gwen Adshead
Fiona Boyle
Clive Myrie
2020 Doreen Cunningham
Soundings: A Journey with Whales
Virago, 2022
Alice Sherwood
The Authenticity Playbook
Harper Collins, 2022
Danny Lavelle
Down and Out: A Journey Through Homelessness
Wildfire, 2022
Damian Le Bas
Ramita Navai
Fiona St Aubyn
2019 Harry Davies
Operation Information
The Bodley Head, 2021
Olive Heffernan
The High Seas: The Race to Save the Earth’s Last Wilderness
Profile Books, 2021
†Rebecca Fogg
Beautiful Trauma
Granta, 2022
Fiona St Aubyn (Chair)
Rachel Hewitt
Kenan Malik
2018 Laurence Blair
Lost Countries of South America: Travels in a Continent's Past and Present
The Bodley Head, 2020
Lily Le Brun
Looking to Sea: Britain Through the Eyes of its Artists
Hodder and Stoughton, 2020
†Paul Craddock
Dragon in a Suitcase: A Cultural History of the Art of Transplant
Fig Tree, 2020
Iain Sinclair (Chair)
Laura Bates
Aida Edemariam
Fiona St Aubyn
2017 David Farrier
Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils
4th Estate, 2019
Lisa Woollett
Scavenging
John Murray, 2019
†Joanna Jolly
Red River Girl: The Life and Death of Tina Fontaine
Virago, 2019
Richard Holmes (Chair)
Afua Hirsch
Fiona St Aubyn

† Judges' Special Commendation

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "The Royal Society of Literature Giles St Aubyn Awards for Non-Fiction". Royal Society of Literature.
  2. ^ "The RSL Giles St Aubyn Awards for Non-Fiction 2017 Rules and Entry Form" (PDF). Royal Society of Literature.
  3. ^ "The Giles St Aubyn Awards for Non-Fiction | Writer's exceptional legacy secures future of non-fiction award". rsliterature.org. The Royal Society for Literature. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  4. ^ RSL website