Honours & Recognition

Awards, Recognition, Nominations

2019    Booker Prize for Girl, Woman, Other
2021    Honorary International Fellow, American Academy of Arts & Sciences (est. 1780)
2021    The Black Powerlist 100 (for 2022 + 2021)
2021    Prix Les Afriques (Switzerland) – finalist
2021    Nielsen Bookscan Gold Bestseller Award
2021    ‘Freedom of the Borough’, awarded by Greenwich Council
2021    Vanity Fair Challenger Award
2021    Glamour Women of the Year: Gamechanging Author Award
2021    GG2 Woman of the Year Award
2021    European Literary Award (Holland) – finalist
2021    Premio Lattes Grinzane (Italy) – finalist
2021    Premio Gregor von Rezzori (Italy) – finalist
2021    Dublin International Literary Award – finalist
2020    President, Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance
2020    Lifetime Honorary Fellow, St Anne’s College, University of Oxford
2020    Lifetime Vice President of the Royal Society of Literature (est. 1820)
2020    Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage, Trinity College Dublin (est. 1683)
2020    Awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List
2020    British Book Awards: Author of the Year
2020    British Book Awards: Fiction Book of the Year
2020    Indie Book Award for Fiction
2020    Le Prix Millepage (France)
2020    Reading Women Award
2020    The Bookseller 150 – power list
2020    The Black Power List 100 (for 2021)
2020    The Vogue 25 list of Britain’s most influential women
2020    Elle 50 – Game-changers 2020
2020   Selected as 100 Great Black Britons
2020    OkayAfrica 100 Women for 2020
2020    Publishing Triangle Awards (USA) – nominated
2020    Australian Book Industry Awards – nominated
2020    The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction – finalist
2020    The Women’s Prize – finalist
2020    Visionary Honors Award – finalist
2020    Glass Bell Awards – finalist
2019    Gordon Burn Prize – finalist
2019    Financial Times Women Game Changers of 2019
2019    Evening Standard Progress 1000 most influential Londoners
2019    The Bookseller 150 – power list
2018    Lifetime Fellow, Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance
2017    Lifetime Honorary Fellow, The English Association (est. 1906)
2015    The Montgomery Fellow, Dartmouth College, USA
2015    Triangle Awards: Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction (USA) – Mr Loverman
2014    Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize – Mr Loverman
2010    Hurston/Wright Legacy Award (USA): finalist – Blonde Roots
2010    Poetry Book Society Special Commendation – Ten poetry anthology
2009    International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award: nominated for Blonde Roots
2009    The Big Red Read Award: fiction & overall winner – Blonde Roots
2009    Awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List
2009    Orange Prize Youth Panel Award – Blonde Roots
2009    Orange Prize for Fiction – longlist – Blonde Roots
2006    Appointed a Fellow, Royal Society of Arts (est. 1754)
2006    British Council Creative Writing Fellow, Georgetown University, USA
2004    Elected a lifetime Fellow, Royal Society of Literature (est. 1820)
2003    NESTA* Fellowship Award – The Emperor’s Babe
2002    Creative Writing Fellow, University of East Anglia
2000    The Arts Council of England Writers Award 2000: The Emperor’s Babe
1999    EMMA Best Book Award for Lara

*NESTA= National Endowment of Science, Technology & The Arts

Academic Honours – Brunel University London

2020     Vice Chancellor’s Award for Staff
2017     Teach Brunel Awards: CBASS Best Small Module Award
2015     CBASS Award for Excellence,
2014     Appointed The Public Orator

Notable books of the year
Girl, Woman, Other
35 + selections in newspapers, magazines
& the media
visit page for Girl, Woman, Other

Mr Loverman
An Observer Book of the Year

Blonde Roots
A Financial Times Book of the Year
A Prospect Book of the Year
A San Francisco Chronicle Book of the Year

Soul Tourists
An Independent Book of the Year
An Independent on Sunday Book of the Year

The Emperor’s Babe
A Times Book of the Decade, 2009
A Telegraph Book of the Year
A Sunday Independent Book of the Year
A Times Book of the Year
An Ireland Sunday Independent Book of the Year
A Times Best of Summer Books

Lara
A New Statesman Book of the Year
A Telegraph Book of the Year
A Weekly Journal Book of the Year