2023
Non-fictionMemoir
None of the Above
Subtitled My Life Beyond the Binary, the book is a semi-autobiographical work of non-fiction in which Alabanza writes about their life outside the gender binary.
It won the 2023 Jhalak Prize.
Reading List · Young writers
The : Every Winner Since 2000
The Somerset Maugham Awards are given each year by the Society of Authors to young writers for a published book of fiction, non-fiction or poetry. W. Somerset Maugham founded them in 1947 to help young writers enrich their work through travel abroad. Since 1964 several winners have usually been named each year, and recent rules limit entry to writers under 30. Early winners include Kingsley Amis, V. S. Naipaul, Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney.
By Lisanne Swart · 89 winners since 2000 · Fiction, non-fiction and poetry · All literary prizes · Last reviewed 28 October 2026
Every winner · 2000 to 2025 several young writers a year, since 1947
Click a title to read about it further down ↓
- 2000The Lighthouse StevensonsBella Bathurst
- 2000AffinitySarah Waters
- 2001LeadvilleEdward Platt
- 2001Pobby and DinganBen Rice
- 2002Black Earth CityCharlotte Hobson
- 2002The PaperchaseMarcel Theroux
- 2003The Snow GeeseWilliam Fiennes · Also won the Hawthornden Prize
- 2003The ImpressionistHari Kunzru
- 2003If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable ThingsJon McGregor
- 2004Two Kinds of SilenceMark Blayney
- 2004Mountains of the MindRobert Macfarlane
- 2004Daughters of JerusalemCharlotte Mendelson
- 2005Passing Under HeavenJustin Hill
- 2005The Distance Between UsMaggie O’Farrell
- 2006IncendiaryChris Cleave
- 2006Skirrid HillOwen Sheers
- 2006On BeautyZadie Smith
- 2007Running for the HillsHoratio Clare
- 2007The Amnesia ClinicJames Scudamore
- 2008The Raw Shark TextsSteven Hall
- 2008On PurposeNick Laird
- 2008Joshua SpasskyGwendoline Riley
- 2008Miss HerbertAdam Thirlwell
- 2009Empires of the IndusAlice Albinia
- 2009The Broken WordAdam Foulds
- 2009Alasdair Gray: A Secretary’s BiographyRodge Glass · Biography
- 2009The Secret Life of WordsHenry Hitchings
- 2009The Exchange Rate Between Love and MoneyThomas Leveritt
- 2009Once Upon a Time in EnglandHelen Walsh
- 2010What Price Liberty?Ben Wilson
- 2010White is for WitchingHelen Oyeyemi
- 2010Talk of the TownJacob Polley · Later won the T. S. Eliot
- 2011The Squirrels Are DeadMiriam Gamble
- 2011Romantic ModernsAlexandra Harris
- 2011In the FleshAdam O’Riordan
- 2012No award— · No awards given
- 2013The Teleportation AccidentNed Beauman
- 2013The Glass DelusionAbi Curtis
- 2013The AdultJoe Stretch
- 2013Diving BellesLucy Wood
- 2014OrkneyAmy Sackville
- 2014Hunters in the SnowDaisy Hildyard
- 2014The Orchard of Lost SoulsNadifa Mohamed
- 2015How to Ruin a QueenJonathan Beckman
- 2015Black CountryLiz Berry
- 2015LolitoBen Brooks
- 2015Eat My Heart OutZoe Pilger
- 2016An Account of the Decline of the Great AukJessie Greengrass
- 2016Mr & Mrs DisraeliDaisy Hay
- 2016PhysicalAndrew McMillan
- 2016We Don’t Know What We’re DoingThomas Morris
- 2016HappinessJack Underwood
- 2017The Invention of Angela CarterEdmund Gordon · Biography
- 2017SunshineMelissa Lee-Houghton
- 2017Infinite GroundMartin MacInnes
- 2018KumukandaKayo Chingonyi
- 2018ElmetFiona Mozley
- 2018All the Prayers in the HouseMiriam Nash
- 2019The PerseveranceRaymond Antrobus
- 2019The Stopping PlacesDamian Le Bas
- 2019Shrines of Upper AustriaPhoebe Power
- 2019Mrs Gaskell and MeNell Stevens
- 2020Michael Tippett: The BiographyOliver Soden · Biography
- 2020Moder DyRoseanne Watt
- 2020The Art of the BodyAlex Allison
- 2020UnicornAmrou Al-Kadhi · Memoir
- 2021Dark, Salt, ClearLamorna Ash
- 2021RipeIsabelle Baafi
- 2021The StormAkeem Balogun
- 2021The Young TeamGraeme Armstrong
- 2022AmnionStephanie Sy-Quia
- 2022Keeping the HouseTice Cin
- 2022My Body Keeps Your SecretsLucia Osborne-Crowley
- 2022Open WaterCaleb Azumah Nelson
- 2022Overrun by Wild BoarsMaia Elsner
- 2023None of the AboveTravis Alabanza · Memoir; beyond the binary
- 2023To Fill a Yellow HouseSussie Anie · Debut novel
- 2023BirdgirlMya-Rose Craig · Memoir; birding
- 2023ImperiumJay Gao · Debut poetry collection
- 2023We MoveGurnaik Johal · Debut short stories
- 2023An Olive Grove in EndsMoses McKenzie · Debut novel; Bristol
- 2024AnamnesisIona Lee
- 2024Bad Diaspora PoemsMomtaza Mehri · Poetry
- 2024Twilight CitiesKatherine Pangonis · Lost Mediterranean capitals
- 2024Wandering SoulsCecile Pin · Debut novel; Vietnamese refugees
- 2024HercPhoenicia Rogerson · Debut novel; Greek myth
- 2025The HypocriteJo Hamya · Novel; London, 2020
- 2025Winter AnimalsAshani Lewis · Debut novel
- 2025Revolutionary Acts: Love & Brotherhood in Black Gay BritainJason Okundaye · Non-fiction; social history
- 2025Food for the DeadCharlotte Shevchenko Night
Quick answer
The Somerset Maugham Award is the Society of Authors’ annual prize for young British writers, founded in 1947 by W. Somerset Maugham to fund travel abroad. Several winners are chosen each year; the latest confirmed winners (2025) are Jo Hamya, Ashani Lewis, Jason Okundaye and Charlotte Shevchenko Night.
Quick facts about the Somerset Maugham Award
- First awarded
- 1947 (A. L. Barker, Innocents)
- Named after
- W. Somerset Maugham, who founded it
- Run by
- Society of Authors
- Prize
- £3,200 per winner in 2024
- Who can enter
- Writers under 30 who are British nationals or have lived in the UK for three years
- Eligible books
- Poetry, fiction, criticism, biography, history, philosophy, belles-lettres and travel; not plays
- Purpose
- To help young writers enrich their work through travel abroad
- Winners per year
- Usually several since 1964
- Years without an award
- 1975 and 2012
- Latest winners
- Jo Hamya, Ashani Lewis, Jason Okundaye and Charlotte Shevchenko Night, 2025
How this page chooses
The timeline at the top lists every winner, all 90 of them. The latest fifteen have their own entry further down, oldest first; the titles in the timeline that you can click are those.
Under each book is a line of plain fact about the book or its author, and nothing that cannot be checked.
The latest fifteen Somerset Maugham Award winners, 2023 to 2025
Oldest first. The line in red is a fact about the book or its author, not an opinion about it.
The shop links on this page go straight to the shop. They are not affiliate links and I earn nothing if you buy.
2023
FictionDebut novel
To Fill a Yellow House
To Fill a Yellow House is the debut novel of Sussie Anie, a British-Ghanaian writer from North London, published in 2022.
It was nominated for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award.
2023
Non-fictionMemoir
Birdgirl
A memoir of Craig’s experiences as a young birder and environmental activist, which also reflects on family life, identity and mental health.
Craig became the youngest person to see half of the world’s bird species.
2023
PoetryDebut collection
Imperium
Imperium is Jay Gao’s first poetry collection, published by Carcanet in 2022.
It also won the Michael Murphy Memorial Poetry Prize and an Eric Gregory Award in 2023.
2023
Short storiesDebut collection
We Move
A debut collection of 17 short stories by a writer from Northolt, London, published by Serpent’s Tail in 2022, with stories including “Arrival”, “Leave to Remain” and “Haven Green”.
Its story “Arrival” won the 2022 Galley Beggar Press Short Story Award.
2023
BristolDebut novel
An Olive Grove in Ends
Sayon Hughes, drawn into drug dealing with his cousin while trying to leave his Bristol neighbourhood and keep his relationship with Shona, faces a choice between his crime and his future after a deadly altercation.
It also won the 2023 Hawthornden Prize.
2024
Anamnesis
Anamnesis by Iona Lee was one of five books that received a Somerset Maugham Award in 2024.
Each of the five 2024 winners received £3,200.
2024
PoetryFirst full collection
Bad Diaspora Poems
Bad Diaspora Poems is Momtaza Mehri’s first full-length collection, published in 2023 after two pamphlets.
It also won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2023; Mehri was Young People’s Laureate for London in 2018.
2024
MediterraneanNon-fiction
Twilight Cities
Subtitled Lost Capitals of the Mediterranean, Katherine Pangonis’s book was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 2023.
The 2024 judges were Akeem Balogun, Bhanu Kapil and Ardashir Vakil.
2024
Vietnam to LondonDebut novel
Wandering Souls
In 1978 three Vietnamese siblings, Anh, Minh and Thanh, are sent ahead by boat while their family stays behind; after a refugee camp in Hong Kong they are resettled in Britain, where the novel follows them over several decades.
It was shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
2024
Greek mythDebut novel
Herc
A debut novel that retells the myths of Hercules, published by HQ, an imprint of HarperCollins, in 2023.
It was a Waterstones Book of the Month in August 2023.
2025
LondonAugust 2020
The Hypocrite
In London in August 2020, during a lull in the pandemic, a controversial writer watches a play by his estranged daughter, Sophia, and recognises it as drawn from a holiday they took in Sicily when she was a teenager.
It was shortlisted for the 2024 Nero Book Awards.
2025
FictionDebut novel
Winter Animals
Winter Animals is Ashani Lewis’s debut novel, published by Dialogue Books, a Hachette UK imprint, in 2024.
It also won the Betty Trask Prize.
2025
BritainSocial history
Revolutionary Acts
Subtitled Love & Brotherhood in Black Gay Britain, the book documents Black British gay history and culture from the 1970s to the present through profiles of seven men, including Ted Brown and Ajamu X.
It was shortlisted for the 2024 Orwell Prize for Political Writing.
2025
Food for the Dead
Food for the Dead by Charlotte Shevchenko Night was one of four books to receive a Somerset Maugham Award in 2025.
The other 2025 winners were Jo Hamya, Ashani Lewis and Jason Okundaye.
Maugham’s travel award for young writers
W. Somerset Maugham founded the award in 1947 to help young writers broaden their work through experience abroad, and the Society of Authors has given it annually since. The first winner was A. L. Barker for Innocents; later early winners included Doris Lessing (1954), Kingsley Amis for Lucky Jim (1955), Ted Hughes for The Hawk in the Rain (1960), V. S. Naipaul for Miguel Street (1961), John le Carré for The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1964) and Seamus Heaney for Death of a Naturalist (1968).
From 1964 the award has usually been shared between several writers each year. It was not given in 1975 or 2012. Later winners include Martin Amis (1974), Ian McEwan (1976), Julian Barnes (1981) and Carol Ann Duffy (1988).
Who can win
Entrants must be under 30, and either British nationals or resident in the UK for three years, with a full-length book in English first published in Britain in the previous year. Poetry, fiction, criticism, biography, history, philosophy, belles-lettres and travel writing are eligible; plays are not.
Prize money has varied: in the 2010s individual awards ranged from £2,000 to £5,250, and in 2024 each of the five winners received £3,200. The awards are presented with the Society of Authors’ other annual prizes.
Frequently asked questions about the Somerset Maugham Award
What is the Somerset Maugham Award?
It is an annual award from the Society of Authors for young writers with a published book of fiction, non-fiction or poetry, founded in 1947 by W. Somerset Maugham to fund travel abroad.
Who won the Somerset Maugham Award in 2025?
Jo Hamya (The Hypocrite), Ashani Lewis (Winter Animals), Jason Okundaye (Revolutionary Acts) and Charlotte Shevchenko Night (Food for the Dead).
Who won in 2026?
The 2026 winners could not be confirmed from the sources consulted for this page.
How old do you have to be?
Recent rules require entrants to be under 30; Wikipedia describes the limit as under 35, which applied in earlier years.
How many winners are there each year?
Usually several; since 1964 the award has normally been shared, with between two and six winners a year since 2000.
How much is the award worth?
In 2024 each winner received £3,200.
Were there years without a winner?
Yes. No award was given in 1975 or in 2012.
Which famous writers have won it?
Early winners include Kingsley Amis, Doris Lessing, Ted Hughes, V. S. Naipaul, John le Carré, Seamus Heaney, Ian McEwan and Julian Barnes.
Footnotes
- The Society of Authors’ Somerset Maugham Awards — NAWE
- Somerset Maugham Award — Wikipedia
- Society of Authors Awards 2024 — David Higham Associates
- Katherine Pangonis’ Twilight Cities wins Somerset Maugham Award 2024 — Georgina Capel Associates
- Somerset Maugham Award 2025 — Fantastic Fiction
- Somerset Maugham Award 2024 — Fantastic Fiction
- Wandering Souls — Wikipedia
- The Hypocrite — Wikipedia
- Jason Okundaye — Wikipedia
Winner list last verified 28 October 2026.
The notes on this page are all mine,
and the books are all theirs.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
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