Joshua McCormack delves into the history of the most prestigious literary awards and explores their many possibilities and shortcomings.
Alfred Nobel was labelled 'The Merchant of Death' for his invention of dynamite. While the theory was never confirmed by Nobel, many believe that he created the awards as an effort to forge a better legacy for himself, beyond the pain and suffering his invention went onto cause. Since 1901 the Nobel prizes have been awarded in six categories – Physics, Physiology, Medicine, Chemistry, Peace, & Literature.
French poet and essayist Sully Prudhome won the first Literature Prize for his works of 'lofty idealism.' The award's reputation was embryonic at that stage, and thus Prudhome's life was not radically changed by the win. However, the birth of one of the world's first Literary awards made waves in the publishing space, inspiring others to create their own.
In the States, John Pulitzer, who made his fortune in newspaper publishing, made provision in his will for the establishment of prizes which recognised excellence in the fields of journalism, literature, drama, and education.
Stamping a book with the seal of a prestigious award means that novel will have a front-row seat in bookstores, means consumers will have more confidence spending their money on it, means increased media attention, and more printings of the book.
The UK finally found its flagship award in 1969, the Booker Prize, which awards the 'best single work of sustained literary fiction published in the UK or Ireland’; years later, the award’s prestige resulted in a sister prize: the International Booker Award, granted to a work of fiction translated into the English Language.
Besides the prize money – the Booker Prize offers £50,000, the Pulitzer $15,000, and the Nobel prize is worth roughly a million euro – there is the massive boost in sales that comes with a win. Stamping a book with the seal of a prestigious award means that novel will have a front-row seat in bookstores, means consumers will have more confidence spending their money on it, means increased media attention, and more printings of the book.
One need only look at the recent Irish winner of the Booker Prize to see how instrumental the award was to that book's sales. 2024 Winner Paul Lynch who won for his dystopian novel Prophet Song, enjoyed a 1500 percent increase in his books sales, and the same is true of the Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes. In terms of fame and the longevity of their sales, the most 'successful' winners of these prizes include the likes of Hilary Mantel, Margaret Atwood, Sebastian Barry, George Saunders, Anne Enright, Kazuo Ishiguro, Ernest Hemingway, and Colson Whitehead, to name but a few …
Years after a book won one of these awards, according to research conducted by Waterstones, it could sell anywhere between several thousand copies a year, or just a few dozen.
However, for all these names, there are countless others – statistically more – whose names, works, and sales faded into obscurity with the passage of time. Years after a book won one of these awards, according to research conducted by Waterstones, it could sell anywhere between several thousand copies a year, or just a few dozen. Award Recipients like Ben Okri, Paul Scully, John Berger, and David Storey, which isn't to mention the countless authors who were nominated for these prestigious awards, securing positions on longlists and shortlists, only to have their careers gutter in later years. This is a problem for these awards.
Ultimately, the awards are judged by writers, reviewed by writers, directed by writers, writers who happily consume the most high-brow, niche, experimental, parochial literature because they write. What they forget is that most readers are not writers: they read books for entertainment, for knowledge, for peace and relaxation, not always to be over-awed by how unconventional or ground-breaking the narrative structure is.
Indeed, if we examine the most successful award-winning authors of recent times, we find they bridge the divide between the two: boasting both artistic flair, and an ability to appeal to what audiences enjoy.
Literary Fiction is not the most – or even one of the – popular genres in the industry; according to research conducted by Bookriot, these are some of the ones which generate the most sales: Romance, Fantasy, Children and Young Adult, Science Fiction, Thriller, Historical Fiction, Genre Fiction. Infamous for being sniffed at by the literary elites, but the book industries equivalent of the blockbusters and crowd-pleasers which comprise most of the Hollywood Box office.
On one side what the audience wants, and on the other what the literary world wants us to want. Two very different things. Indeed, if we examine the most successful award-winning authors of recent times, we find they bridge the divide between the two: boasting both artistic flair, and an ability to appeal to what audiences enjoy.
Mantel's Wolf Hall and Sebastian Barry's Days Without End are both historical fiction pieces; while the Handmaids Tale and its sequel The Testaments by Margaret Atwood belong in the sci-fi speculative fiction genre.
This is a salutary lesson to authors: that if they want to be successful in the long-term, they must not only consider the high-brow literary crowd as they write but also their audience, should they wish to transform the tremendous boon that is winning these awards into long-term success.