Whitbread Book Award

The Whitbread Book Awards have celebrated and promoted the best of contemporary British writing since 1971. As a leading UK leisure company, Whitbread sees itself in the business of providing enjoyment to millions of customers--and enjoyment is at the heart of the philosophy of the Whitbread Book Awards which seeks out well-written, enjoyable books.

2002 Book of the Year: Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self by Claire Tomalin
    Children's Book of The Year: Saffy’s Angel by Hilary McKay
    First Novel: The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht
    Novel: Spies by Michael Frayn
    Biography: Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self by Claire Tomalin
    Poetry: The Ice Age by Paul Farley
2001 Book of the Year: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
    Children's Book of The Year: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
    First Novel: Something Like a House by Sid Smith
    Novel: Twelve Bar Blues by Patrick Neate
    Biography: Selkirk’s Island by Diana Souhami
    Poetry: Bunny by Selima Hill
2000 Book of the Year: White Teeth by Zadie Smith --BookMuse features White Teet
    Children's Book of The Year: Coram Boy by Jamila Gavin
    First Novel: White Teeth by Zadie Smith
    Novel: English Passengers by Matthew Kneale
    Biography: Bad Blood - A Memoir by Lorna Sage
    Poetry: The Asylum Dance by John Burnside
1999 Book of the Year: Beowolf by Seamus Heaney
    Children's Book of the Year: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
    First Novel: White City Blue by Tim Lott
    Novel: Music & Silence by Rose Tremain
    Biography: Berlioz Volume 2 by David Cairns
    Poetry: Beowulf by Seamus Heaney
1998 Book of the Year: Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
    Children's Book of the Year: Skellig by David Almond--BookMuse features Skellig
    First Novel:The Last King Of Scotland by Giles Foden
    Novel: Leading The Cheers by Justin Cartwright
    Biography: Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman
    Poetry: Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
1997 Book of the Year: Tales from Ovid by Ted Hughes
    Children's Book of the Year: Aquila by Andrew Norriss
    First Novel: The Ventriloquist's Tale by Pauline Melville
    Novel: Quarantine by Jim Crace--BookMuse features Crace's Being Dead
    Biography: Victor Hugo by Graham Robb
    Poetry: Tales from Ovid byTed Hughes
1996 Book of the Year: The Spirit Level by Seamus Heaney
    Children's Book of the Year: The Tulip Touch by Anne Fine
    First Novel: The Debt to Pleasure by John Lancheste
    Novel: Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge
    Biography: Thomas Cranmer: A Life by Diarmaid MacCulloch
    Poetry: The Spirit Level by Seamus Heaney
1995 Book of the Year: Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
    Children's Novel: The Wreck of the Zanzibar by Michael Morpurgo
    First Novel: Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
    Novel: The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie
    Biography: Gladstone by Roy Jenkins
    Poetry: Gunpowder by Bernard O'Donoghue
1994 Book of the Year: Felicia's Journey by William Trevor--BookMuse features Trevor's Death in Summer
    Children's Novel: Gold Dust by Geraldine McCaughrean
    First Novel: The Longest Memory by Fred D'Aguiar
    Novel: Felicia's Journey by William Trevor
    Biography: D H Lawrence: The Married Man by Brenda Maddox
    Poetry: Out of Danger by James Fenton
1993 Book of the Year: Theory of War by Joan Brady
    Children's Novel: Flour Babies by Anne Fine
    First Novel: Saving Agnes by Rachel Cusk
    Novel: Theory of War by Joan Brady
    Biography: Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life by Andrew Motion
    Poetry: Mean Time by Carol Ann Duffy
1992 Book of the Year: Swing Hammer Swing! by Jeff Torrington
    Children's Novel: The Great Elephant Chase by Gillian Cross
    First Novel: Swing Hammer Swing! by Jeff Torrington
    Novel: Poor Things by Alasdair Gray
    Biography: Trollope by Victoria Glendinning
    Poetry: The Gaze of the Gorgon by Tony Harrison
1991 Book of the Year: A Life of Picasso by John Richardson
    Children's Novel: Harvey Angell by Diana Hendry
    First Novel: Alma Cogan by Gordon Burn
    Novel: The Queen of the Tambourine by Jane Gardam
    Biography: A Life of Picasso by John Richardson
    Poetry: Gorse Fires by Michael Longley
1990 Book of the Year: Hopeful Monsters by Nicholas Mosley
    Children's Novel: AK by Peter Dickinson
    First Novel: The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi
    Novel: Hopeful Monsters by Nicholas Mosley
    Biography: A A Milne: His Life by Ann Thwaite
    Poetry: Daddy, Daddy by Paul Durcan
1989 Book of the Year: Coleridge: Early Visions by Richard Holmes
    Children's Novel: Why Weeps the Brogan? by Hugh Scott
    First Novel: Gerontius by James Hamilton-Paterson
    Novel: The Chymical Wedding by Lindsay Clarke
    Biography: Coleridge: Early Visions by Richard Holmes
    Poetry: Shibboleth by Michael Donaghy
1988 Book of the Year: The Comforts of Madness by Paul Sayer
    Children's Novel: Awaiting Developments by Judy Allen
    First Novel: The Comforts of Madness by Paul Sayer
    Novel: The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie --BookMuse features Rushdie's Midnight's Children
    Biography: Tolstoy by A. N. Wilson
    Poetry: The Automatic Oracle by Peter Porter
1987 Book of theYear: Under the Eye of the Clock by Christopher Nolan
    Children's Novel: A Little Lower than the Angels by Geraldine McCaughrean
    First Novel: The Other Garden by Francis Wyndham
    Novel: The Child in Time by Ian McEwan --BookMuse features McEwan's Atonement
    Biography: Under the Eye of the Clock by Christopher Nolan
    Poetry: The Haw Lantern by Seamus Heaney
1986 Book of the Year: An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
    Children's Novel: The Coal House by Andrew Taylor
    First Novel: Continent by Jim Crace
    Novel: An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
    Biography: Gilbert White by Richard Mabey
    Poetry: Stet by Peter Reading
1985 Book of the Year: Elegies by Douglas Dunn
    Children's Novel: The Nature of the Beast by Janni Howker
    First Novel: Oranges are not the only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
    Novel: Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd
    Biography: Hugh Dalton by Ben Pimlott
    Poetry: Elegies by Douglas Dunn
1984 Children's Novel: The Queen of the Pharisees' Children by Barbara Willard
    First Novel: A Parish of Rich Women by James Buchan
    Novel: Kruger's Alp by Christopher Hope
    Biography: T S Eliot by Peter Ackroyd
    Short Story: Tomorrow is our Permanent Address by Diane Rowe
1983 Children's Novel: The Witches by Roald Dahl
    First Novel: Flying to Nowhere by John Fuller
    Novel: Fools of Fortune by William Trevor
    Biography: Vita by Victoria Glendinning and King George V by Kenneth Rose
1982 Children's Novel: The Song of Pentecost by W J Corbett
    First Novel: On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin
    Novel: Young Shoulders by John Wain
    Biography: Bismarck by Edward Crankshaw
1981 Children's Novel: The Hollow Land by Jane Gardam
    First Novel: A Good Man in Africa by William Boyd
    Novel: Silver's City by Maurice Leitch
    Biography: Monty: The Making of a General by Nigel Hamilton
1980 Children's Novel: John Diamond by Leon Garfield
    Novel and Book of the Year: How Far Can You Go? by David Lodge
    Biography: On the Edge of Paradise: A C Benson the Diarist by David Newsome
1979 Children's Novel: Tulku by Peter Dickinson
    Novel: The Old Jest by Jennifer Johnston
    Autobiography: About Time by Penelope Mortimer
1978 Children's Book: The Battle of Bubble & Squeak by Philippa Pearce
    Novel: Picture Palace by Paul Theroux
    Biography: Lloyd George: The People's Champion by John Grigg
1977 Children's Book: No End to Yesterday by Shelagh Macdonald
    Novel: Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge
    Biography: Mary Curzon by Nigel Nicolson
1976 Children's Book: A Stitch in Time by Penelope Lively
    Novel: The Children of Dynmouth by William Trevor
    Biography: Elizabeth Gaskell by Winifred Gerin
1975 Novel: Docherty by William McIlvanney
    Autobiography: In Our Infancy by Helen Corke
    First Book: The Improbable Puritan: A Life of Bulstrode Whitelock by Ruth Spalding
1974 Children's Books: How Tom Beat Captain Najork & His Hired Sportsmen by Russell Hoban & Quentin Blake and The Emperor's Winding Sheet by Jill Paton Walsh
    Novel: The Sacred & Profane Love Machine by Iris Murdoch
    Biography: Poor Dear Brendan by Andrew Boyle
    First Book: The Life & Death of Mary Wollstonecraft by Claire Tomalin
1973 Children's Book: The Butterfly Ball & The Grasshopper's Feastby Alan Aldridge & William Plomer
    Novel: The Chip Chip Gatherers by Shiva Naipaul
    Biography: CB: A Life of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman by John Wilson
1972 Children's Book: The Diddakoi by Rumer Godden
    Novel: The Bird of Night by Susan Hill
    Biography: Trollope by James Pope-Hennessey
1971 Novel: The Destiny Waltz by Gerda Charles
    Biography: Henrik Ibsen by Michael Meyer
    Poetry: Mercian Hymns by Geoffrey Hill