Rathbones Folio Prize · 2024 · Winner
The Wren, The Wren
Anne EnrightFor its searing and formally precise account of how women carry the damage of celebrated men — fiction winner and overall winner.
Rathbones Folio Prize
2024 Winner
2024 Shortlist & Longlist
Shortlist
Complete History
2020s
About the Rathbones Folio Prize
The Rathbones Folio Prize — also known as The Writers' Prize since 2024 — is a UK literary award that celebrates the best work of literature in any genre, judged on literary quality alone. Founded in 2014 as the Folio Prize, it was created in response to frustration among authors and publishers that major literary prizes were not always recognising the most daring and accomplished literary work. The prize accepts fiction, non-fiction, and poetry from authors writing in English, provided the work has been published in the UK, and is notable for the breadth and diversity of its shortlists. From 2017, the prize was sponsored by Rathbones Investment Management and renamed the Rathbones Folio Prize; it was further renamed The Writers' Prize in 2024. The prize is unusual in that it is not juried in the conventional sense: instead, a committee of 'Academy members' — established authors — nominate and select the winner, ensuring it retains a strong literary-insider perspective. Past winners include George Saunders's Tenth of December (2014), Hisham Matar's The Return (2017), Raymond Antrobus's The Perseverance (2019), Valeria Luiselli's Lost Children Archive (2020), Carmen Maria Machado's In the Dream House (2021), Colm Tóibín's The Magician (2022), and Anne Enright's The Wren, The Wren (2024). The prize carries no set monetary value that is publicly disclosed as a fixed sum.
Frequently Asked Questions
- A UK literary award for the best work of literature — fiction, non-fiction, or poetry — published in the UK, judged entirely on literary quality. It was founded in 2014, sponsored by Rathbones from 2017, and renamed The Writers' Prize in 2024.
- A rotating group of Academy members — established authors and critics — nominate and vote on the winner, giving the prize a distinctly literary-professional perspective.
- No. No prize was awarded in 2016 due to organisational reasons.
- The Rathbones Folio Prize accepts fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and is judged by fellow authors rather than a celebrity panel, emphasising purely literary criteria.
- Winners include George Saunders (Tenth of December, 2014), Hisham Matar (The Return, 2017), Carmen Maria Machado (In the Dream House, 2021), and Anne Enright (The Wren, The Wren, 2024).
- Yes, the prize is open to authors of any nationality writing in English, provided the book is published in the UK.
- In 2023 the prize split into three categories for the first time: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, with an overall winner selected from the three category winners. Margo Jefferson won overall for Constructing a Nervous System.