Minuteman Library Network Catalog - Booklists

Awards & Other Booklists

Commonwealth Writers' Prize

To encourage and reward the upsurge of new Commonwealth fiction and ensure that works of merit reach a wider audience outside their country of origin, the Commonwealth Foundation established the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 1987.

The objectives of the prize are to promote new voices, reward achievement, encourage wider readership and greater literacy, thereby increasing appreciation of different cultures and building understanding between cultures

The overall winners have a blue background; those not in blue are the winners of the listed regions.

The Best Book prize (overall and regional) was first awarded in 1987. In 1988 the Best Best First Book prize was awarded for each region, but each regional winner had to contend with the Best Book winners for the title of overall Best Book. The first overall Best Best First Book was awarded in 1989.

For more information see:The Commonwealth Foundation website

Click on the titles below to search the catalog

Year	Region	Award	Title	Author	Country
2011	Africa	Best Book	The Memory of Love	Aminatta Forna	Sierra Leone
	Africa	Best First Book	Happiness is a four-letter word	Cynthia Jele	South Africa
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	Room	Emma Donoghue	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Bird Eat Bird	Katrina Best	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet	David Mitchell	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	Sabra Zoo	Mischa Hiller	UK
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	That Deadman Dance	Kim Scott	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	A Man Melting	Craig Cliff	New Zealand
2010	Africa	Best Book	The Double Crown	Marié Heese	South Africa
	Africa	Best First Book	I Do Not Come to You By Chance	Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani	Nigeria
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	Galore	Michael Crummey	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Under This Unbroken Sky	Shandi Mitchell	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	Solo	Rana Dasgupta	India/UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	In Other Rooms, Other Wonders	Daniyal Mueenuddin	Pakistan
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	The Adventures of Vela'	Albert Wendt	Samoa
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	Siddon Rock	Glenda Guest	Australia
2009	Africa	Best Book	The Lost Colours of the Chameleon	Mandla Langa	South Africa
	Africa	Best First Book	Say You‘re One of Them	Uwem Akpan	Nigeria
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	Good to a Fault	Marina Endicott	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Reading by Lightning	Joan Thomas	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	Unaccustomed Earth	Jhumpa Lahiri	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	A Case of Exploding Mangoes	Mohammed Hanif	Pakistan
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	The Slap	Christos Tsiolkas	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	The Year of the Shanghai Shark	Mo Zhi Hong	New Zealand
2008	Africa	Best Book	The Hangman's Game	Karen King-Aribisala	Nigeria
	Africa	Best First Book	Imagine This	Sade Adeniran	Nigeria
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	The Book of Negroes	Lawrence Hill	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	The End of the Alphabet	C.S.Richardson	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	Animal's People	Indra Sinha	India
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	A Golden Age	Tahmima Anam	Bangladesh
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	The Time We Have Taken	Steven Carroll	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	The Anatomy of Wings	Karen Foxlee	Australia
2007	Africa	Best Book	The Native Commissioner	Shaun Johnson	South Africa
	Africa	Best First Book	All We Have Left Unsaid	Maxine Case	South Africa
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	The Friends of Meager Fortune	David Adams Richards	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Vandal Love	DY Bechard	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	The Perfect Man	Naeem Murr	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best Best First Book	In the Country of Men	Hisham Matar	UK
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	Mister Pip	Lloyd Jones	New Zealand
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	Tuvalu	Andrew O'Connor	Australia
2006	Africa	Best Book	The Sun by Night	Benjamin Kwayke	Ghana Africa
	Africa	Best First Book	Tropical Fish: Stories out of Entebbe	Doreen Baingana	Uganda
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	Alligator	Lisa Moore	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Suspended Sentences: Fictions of Atonement	Mark McWatt	Guyana
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	On Beauty	Zadie Smith	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	Lazy Eye	Donna Daley-Clarke	UK
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	The Secret River	Kate Grenville	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	The Harmony Silk Factory	Tash Aw	Malaysia
2005	Africa	Best Book	Boy	Lindsey Collen	South Africa
	Africa	Best First Book	Purple Hibiscus	Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie	Nigeria
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	Runaway	Alice Munro	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Natasha and Other Stories	David Bezmozgis	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	Small Island	Andrea Levy	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	The Sari Shop	Rupa Bajwa	India
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	The White Earth	Andrew McGahan	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	Home	Larissa Behrendt	Australia
2004	Africa	Best Book	The Good Doctor	Damon Galgut	South Africa
	Africa	Best First Book	Gardening at Night	Diane Awerbuck	South Africa
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	Deafening	Frances Itani	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Madame Proust and the Kosher Kitchen	Kate Taylor	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	A Distant Shore	Caryl Phillips	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time	Mark Haddon	UK
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	The Hamilton Case	Michelle de Kretser	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	Somewhere, Home	Nada Awar Jarrar	Australia
2003	Africa	Best Book	The Other Side of Silence	André Brink	South Africa
	Africa	Best First Book	Waiting for an Angel	Helon Habila	Nigeria
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	The Polished Hoe	Austin Clarke	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	The Scent of a Lie	Paulo da Costa	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	Spies	Michael Frayn	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	Haweswater	Sarah Hall	UK
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	Of a Boy	Sonya Hartnett	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	The Rice Mother	Rani Manicka	Malaysia
2002	Africa	Best Book	The Pick Up	Nadine Gordimer	South Africa
	Africa	Best First Book	Ama	Manu Herbstein	South Africa
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage	Alice Munro	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Martin Sloane	Michael Redhill	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	Atonement	Ian McEwan	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	The 18th Pale Descendant	William Muir	UK
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	Gould's Book of Fish	Richard Flanagan	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	In the Blue House	Meaghan Delahunt	Australia
2001	Africa	Best Book	The Heart of Redness	Zakes Mda	South Africa
	Africa	Best First Book	Thirteen Cents	K Sello Duiker	South Africa
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	The Hero's Walk	Anita Rau Badami	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Burning Ground	Pearl Luke	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	Super-Cannes	J G Ballard	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	White Teeth	Zadie Smith	UK
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	True History of the Kelly Gang	Peter Carey	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	The Company	Arabella Edge	Australia
2000	Africa	Best Book	Disgrace	J M Coetzee	South Africa
	Africa	Best First Book	The Legend of the Rockhills and other Stories	Funso Aiyejina	Nigeria
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	What the Body Remembers	Shauna Singh Baldwin	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Prisoner in a Red-Rose Chain	Jeffrey Moore	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	The Ground Beneath Her Feet	Salman Rushdie	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	The Blue Bedspread	Raj Kamal Jha	India
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	Too Many Men	Lily Brett	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	Reconnaissance	Kapka Kassabova	New Zealand
1999	Africa	Best Book	If You Can Walk, You Can Dance	Marion Molteno	South Africa
	Africa	Best First Book	The Clothes of Nakedness	Benjamin Kwakye	Ghana
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	Aelred's Sin	Lawrence Scott	Trinidad
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	The Electrical Field	Kerri Sakamoto	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	Master Georgie	Beryl Bainbridge	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	Difficult Daughters	Manju Kapur	India
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	Eucalyptus	Murray Bail	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	In a Fishbone Church	Catherine Chidgey	New Zealand
1998	Africa	Best Book	Walking Still	Charles Mungoshi	Zimbabwe
	Africa	Best First Book	Dance with a Poor Man's Daughter	Pamela Jooste	South Africa
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	Barney's Version	Mordecai Richler	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Angel Falls	Tim Wynveen	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	Love and Longing in Bombay	Vikram Chandra	India
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	When Memory Dies	A Sivanandan	UK
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	Jack Maggs	Peter Carey	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	Deadset	Emma Tom	Australia
1997	Africa	Best Book	Under the Tongue	Yvonne Vera	Zimbabwe
	Africa	Best First Book	At the Edge and other Cato Manor Stories	Ronnie Govender	South Africa
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	Salt	Earl Lovelace	Trinidad
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Fall On Your Knees	Ann-Marie MacDonald	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	Every Man for Himself	Beryl Bainbridge	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	Interesting Facts about the State of Arizona	Jeremy Poolman	UK
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	Leaning Towards Infinity	Sue Woolfe	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	Where We Once Belonged	Sia Figiel	Samoa
1996	Africa	Best Book	-----	-----	-----
	Africa	Best First Book	Winds of Change	Dene Coetzee	South Africa
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	A Fine Balance	Rohinton Mistry	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Icefields	Thomas Wharton	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	Therapy	David Lodge	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	Red Earth and Pouring Rain	Vikram Chandra	India
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	The Grass Sister	Gillian Mears	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	Dead Sea Fruit	Charlotte Randall	New Zealand
1995	Africa	Best Book	The Master of Petersburg	J M Coetzee	South Africa
	Africa	Best First Book	The River and the Source	Margaret A Ogola	Kenya
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	A Way in the World	V S Naipaul	Trinidad
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Chorus of Mushrooms	Hiromi Goto	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	Captain Corelli's Mandolin	Louis de Bernières	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	Newton's Niece	Derek Beaven	UK
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	The Riders	Tim Winton	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	Seasonal Adjustments	Adib Khan	Australia
1994	Africa	Best Book	The Rape of Sita Mar	Lindsey Collen	Mauritius
	Africa	Best First Book	Cry a Whisper	Lucy Safo	Ghana
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	The Robber Bride	Margaret Atwood	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	The Roads Are Down	Vanessa Spence	Jamaica
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	A Suitable Boy	Vikram Seth	India
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	The Case of Emily V	Keith Oatley	UK
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	Remembering Babylon	David Malouf	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	The Mule's Foal	Fotini Epanomitis	Australia
1993	Africa	Best Book	Tides	Isidore Okpewho	Nigeria
	Africa	Best First Book	The Price of Liberty	Paul Conton	Sierra Leone
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	The English Patient	Michael Ondaatje	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Satellite City	Alecia McKenzie	Jamaica
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	Persistent Rumours	Lee Langley	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	The Thousand Faces of Night	Githa Hariharan	India
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	The Ancestor Game	Alex Miller	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	Praise	Andrew McGahan	Australia
1992	Africa	Best Book	Changes	Ama Ata Aidoo	Ghana
	Africa	Best First Book	Grief Child	Lawrence Darmani	Ghana
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	Such a Long Journey	Rohinton Mistry	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Divina Trace	Robert Antoni	Bahamas
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	Senor Vivo & the Coca Lord	Louis de Bernieres	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	A Strange and Sublime Address	Amit Chaudhury	India
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	Ola Samoa	Albert Wendt	New Zealand
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	The Word Burners	Beryl Fletcher	New Zealand
1991	Africa	Best Book	The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar	Syl Cheney-Coker	Sierra Leone
	Africa	Best First Book	Our Wife and Other Stories	Karen King-Aribisala	Nigeria
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	Friend of My Youth	Alice Munro	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Shape Shifter	Pauline Melville	Guyana
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	Possession	A. S. Byatt	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts	Louis de Bernieres	UK
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	The Great World	David Malouf	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	The Story of the Year of 1912 in the Village of Elza Darzins	Thea Welsh	Australia
1990	Africa	Best Book	Harvest of Thorns	Shimmer Chinodya	Zimbabwe
	Africa	Best First Book	The Gunny Sack	M. G. Vassanji	Kenya
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	Solomon Gursky Was Here	Mordecai Richler	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Quaife Bone Bird	Darlene Barry	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	The Great Indian Novel	Shashi	India
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	Myself and Marco Polo	Paul Griffiths	UK
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	The Bay of Contented Men	Robert Drewe	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	Visitors	John Cranna	New Zealand
1989	Africa	Best Book	Nervous Conditions	Tsitsi Dangarembga	Zimbabwe
	Africa	Best First Book	-----	-----	-----
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	Myal	Erna Brodber	Jamaica
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Women of Influence	Bonnie Burnard	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	The Lost Father	Marina Warner	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	The Trotter-Nama	Allan Sealy	India
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	The Carpathians	Janet Frame	New Zealand
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	Ride a Cock Horse	Gillian Mears	Australia
1988	Africa	Best Book	Heroes	Festus Iyayi	Nigeria
	Africa	Best First Book	The Setting Sun and the Rolling World	Charles Mungoshi	Zimbabwe
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best Book	The Honorary Patron	Jack Hodgins	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean	Best First Book	Inspecting the Vaults	Eric McCormack	Canada
	Europe and South Asia	Best Book	The Songlines	Bruce Chatwin	UK
	Europe and South Asia	Best First Book	The Passion	Jeanette Winterson	UK
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best Book	Oracles and Miracles	Stevan Eldred-Grigg	New Zealand
	SE Asia and South Pacific	Best First Book	The Sea and Summer	George Turner	Australia
1987	Africa	Ben Okri	Incidents at the Shrine	William Heineman	Nigeria
	Africa		A Forest of Flowers	Ken Saro-Wiwa	Nigeria
	Canada and the Caribbean		The Handmaid's Tale	Margaret Atwood	Canada
	Canada and the Caribbean		Summer Lightning	Olive Senior	Jamaica
	Europe and South Asia		Plans for Departure	Nayantara Sahgal	India
	Europe and South Asia	-----	-----	-----	-----
	SE Asia and South Pacific		Winter in Jerusalem	Blanche d'Alpuget	Australia
	SE Asia and South Pacific		The Matriarch	Witi Ihimaera	New Zealand

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