Guardian First Book Award
Christchurch City Libraries lists literary prize winners and links to catalogue searches, but we may not hold copies of all titles mentioned.
The award was for any first book, fiction or non fiction, prose or poetry and was awarded from 1999 to 2015.
Before 1999, this award existed in a different format as the Guardian Fiction Prize. The winner was chosen by a panel of judges. The short-list was decided by reading groups organised by the bookstore chain Waterstones.
2015
- Physical Winner
- Andrew McMillan
- Man v nature
- Diane Cook
- The Fishermen
- Chigozie Obioma
- Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible
- Peter Pomerantsev
- Grief Is the Thing With Feathers
- Max Porter
- The Shore
- Sara Taylor
2014
Young Skins Winner- Colin Barrett
- Age of Ambition
- Evan Osnos
- Do No Harm
- Henry Marsh
- The Night Guest
- Fiona McFarlane
- Things to Make and Break
- May-Lan Tan
2013
- The spinning heart Winner
- Donal Ryan
- We need new names
- NoViolet Bulawayo
- Sex and the citadel
- Shereen El Feki
- Burial rites
- Hannah Kent
- Kiss me first
- Lottie Moggach
2012
- The yellow birds Winner
- Kevin Powers
- Tony Hogan bought me an ice-cream float before he stole my Ma
- Kerry Hudson
- The art of fielding
- Chad Harbach
- Sandstorm: Libya in the time of revolution
- Lindsey Hilsum
- Behind the beautiful forevers
- Katherine Boo
2011
The emperor of all maladies: a biography of cancer Winner- Siddhartha Mukherjee
- Pigeon English
- Stephen Kelman
- Down the rabbit hole
- Juan Pablo Villalobos
- The collaborator
- Mirza Waheed
- The submission
- Amy Waldman
2010
- Romantic moderns: English writers, artists and the imagination from Virginia Woolf to John Piper Winner
- Alexandra Harris
- Boxer, beetle
- Ned Beauman
- Your presence is requested at Suvanto
- Maile Chapman
- Black Mamba Boy
- Nadifa Mohamed
- Being wrong: adventures in the margin of error
- Kathryn Schulz
2009
An elegy for Easterly Winner- Petina Gappah
- The rehearsal
- Eleanor Catton
- The wilderness
- Samantha Harvey
- The selected works of T. S. Spivet
- Reif Larsen
- A swamp full of dollars
- Michael Peel
2008
- The rest is noise Winner
- Alex Ross
- Stalin’s children
- Owen Matthews
- God’s own country
- Ross Raisin
- A fraction of the whole
- Steve Toltz
- A case of exploding mangoes
- Mohammed Hanif
2007
Children of the revolution Winner- Dinaw Mengestu
- A golden age
- Tahmima Anam
- Imperial life in the Emerald City
- Rajiv Chandrasekaran
- God’s architect
- Rosemary Hill
- What was lost
- Catherine O’Flynn
2006
- A thousand years of good prayers Winner
- Yiyun Li
- Everyman’s rules for scientific living
- Carrie Tiffany
- In the country of men
- Hisham Matar
- Harbor
- Lorraine Adams
- Poppy Shakespeare
- Clare Allan
2005
Stuart: a life backwards Winner - Alexander Masters
- No god but God
- Reza Aslan
- The farm
- Richard Benson
- Maximum city: Bombay lost and found
- Suketu Mehta
- Sightseeing
- Rattawut Lapcharoensap
2004
- Mutants: on the form, varieties and errors of the human body Winner
- Armand Marie Leroi
- Ground water
- Matthew Hollis
- Natasha and other stories
- David Bezmozgis
- Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
- Susanna Clarke
- The places in between
- Rory Stewart
2003
Mountains of the mind Winner- Robert Macfarlane
- Brick Lane
- Monica Ali
- Vernon God Little
- D. B. C. Pierre
- Into the silent land
- Paul Broks
- Stasiland
- Anna Funder
2002
- Everything is illuminated Winner
- Jonathan Safran Foer
- The only good thing anyone has ever done
- Sandra Newman
- The impressionist
- Hari Kunzru
- Don’t let’s go to the dogs tonight
- Alexandra Fuller
- Mapping Mars: science, imagination and the birth of a world
- Oliver Morton
2001
Jimmy Corrigan: the smartest kid on Earth Winner- Chris Ware
- Carter beats the devil
- Glen David Gold
- Wittgenstein’s poker
- David Edmonds and John Eidinow
- Anthony Blunt: his lives
- Miranda Carter
- The dark room
- Rachel Seiffert
2000
- White teeth Winner
- Zadie Smith
- House of leaves
- Mark Z. Danielewski
- Catfish and mandala, a Vietnamese odyssey
- Andrew Pham
- No logo
- Naomi Klein
- A heartbreaking work of staggering genius
- Dave Eggers
1999
We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families Winner - Philip Gourevitch
- Ghostwritten
- David Mitchell
- Boxy an star
- Daren King
- The lighthouse Stevensons
- Bella Bathurst
- No place like home
- Gary Younge
- The blue bedspread
- Raj Kamal Jha
