Blake Morrison to chair Goldsmiths Prize 2016

Writer and critic Blake Morrison is to chair this year’s Goldsmiths Prize – the £10,000 award created by Goldsmiths, University of London, in association with the New Statesman, to reward “boldly original fiction”.

The annual prize is open to novels written by authors from the UK and the Republic of Ireland and awarded to a book that is deemed “genuinely novel" and which "embodies the spirit of invention that characterises the genre at its best.”

Since its launch, the Goldsmiths Prize – won last year by Kevin Barry’s Beatlebone (Canongate) – has received widespread critical acclaim for celebrating fiction that opens up new possibilities for the novel form.

Joining Morrison on the judging panel will be #ReadWomen campaign founder Joanna Walsh, author and creative writing professor at Brunel University, Bernardine Evaristo, and author and critic, Erica Wagner.

Morrison said: “In three short years, the Goldsmiths Prize has already established itself as one of the most important literary awards in the UK, and I’m honoured to be chair of the judges this time.”

Tom Gatti, culture editor of the New Statesman, added: “The New Statesman is delighted to continue its partnership with a prize that reminds us how ambitious, inventive and vital British fiction can be.”

Submissions for the prize open on Friday 22nd January and close on Friday 25th March. The winner will be announced on Wednesday 9th November from a shortlist of six books.