Joseph, Ziegler, Henderson, win at Society of Author awards

15.06.11 | Lisa Campbell - The Bookseller

Twenty-one writers shared £76,000 of prize money at the Authors' Awards last night presented by Joanna Trollope. Among them Anjali Joseph won the £10,000 Betty Trask prize for Saraswati Park (Fourth Estate).

As previously announced, Philip Ziegler won the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Edward Heath – The Authorised Biography (HarperPress).

The McKitterick prize, worth £4,000 was given to Emma Henderson, who has been previously shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Wellcome Book Prize.

Other Betty Trask Prize Award winners were Laura Barton who received £6,000
for Twenty-One Locks (Quercus) and Simon Lelic who was given £2,500 for
Rupture (Picador) along with Robert Williams, who was also awarded £2,500
for Luke and Jon (Faber).

After the presentations, Trollope congratulated all the winners, saying they had the power to influence imaginations with their words. She said: "We (authors) can take everything that has already been said and present it in a way that makes people think ‘I have never heard this before.' All the writers around us tonight have done this."
Joseph said: "I feel really happy, I remember reading the backs of books which had this award cited when I was younger and thinking they must be good, so its nice to get the recognition."
The event took place at the Cavalry and Guards Club in Piccadilly, London, and was hosted by the Society of Authors.