Guardian First Book Award judges announced
10.08.09 Katie Coyne in The Bookseller

The judging panel for the Guardian First Book Award 2009, which rewards new writing across fiction and non-fiction has been revealed. The award is run in association with Waterstone’s and is judged by both writers and literary experts with the views of a panel of readers from the general public also represented.

This year the retailer has recruited five reading groups, which will read the 10 longlisted books to help the judging panel decide the shortlist of five.The panel will comprise: Claire Armitstead, Guardian literary editor; BBC presenter Martha Kearney; poet and novelist Tobias Hill (pic left); author Nadeem Aslam; political philosopher and author John Gray; Guardian deputy editor Katharine Viner; and Stuart Broom from Waterstone’s, representing the views of the retailer’s reading groups.

Previous winners of the Guardian First Book Award have included Zadie Smith and Jonathan Safran Foer. Panel chair, Claire Armitstead said: “We’re really excited about this year’s selection. There have been more entries than ever before and the standard is—as ever—very high.”

The longlist will be announced at the end of August, with the shortlist revealed in November and the overall winner announced in December.