SoA ready to defend PLR from government cuts

Society of Authors chair Tom Holland has called for the protection of Public Lending Right at a time of spending cuts at the annual authors' awards ceremony, held last night (15th June).

Authors including Nadifa Mohamed and Tristram Hunt were crowned winners at the Society of Authors' awards, held at the Cavalry and Guards Club in Piccadilly. Holland, introduced the awards, which were presented by its president, P D James.

Holland said the Society would "fight to defend" PLR, calling it "a miniscule amount which will barely be noticed by George Osborne". As">http://www.thebookseller.com/news/119135-rough-ride-predicted-for-librar... The Bookseller reported in May the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport is to face a £88m (3%) cut in this year's budget, with the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), Public Lending Right (PLR) and Arts Council all taking a 3% funding cut this year.

Mohamed won the Betty Trask Prize for her debut novel Black Mamba Boy (HarperCollins), picking up £10,000. Tristram Hunt received £5,000 for The Frock-Coated Communist – The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels (Allen Lane), which won The Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography.

Picador picked up two prizes for The Somerset Maugham Awards with authors Jacob Polley and Helen Oyeyemi receiving £5,000 and £3,000 respectively.

Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy was on the judging panel for the Cholmondeley Award, choosing four winners – Gillian Allnutt, Colette Bryce, Gwyneth Lewis and Deryn Rees-Jones. She said: "I'm thrilled that this year's awards show such a range of talent throughout the UK – the margins truly are the centre of British poetry now."

The winners in full:

The Elizabeth Longford Prize

Winner: Tristram Hunt received £5,000 for The Frock-Coated Communist – The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels (Allen Lane)

The Travelling Scholarships

Winners: Sam North, Lemn Sissay and Roma Tearne - each received £1,500

The Somerset Maugham Awards

Winners: Jacob Polley, £5,000 for Talk of the Town (Picador); Helen Oyeyemi, £3,000 for White is for Witching (Picador), and Ben Wilson, £2,000 for What Price Liberty? (Faber)

The Olive Cook Award

Winner: Carys Davies received £1,000 for The Quiet
Joint runners-up: Susannah Rickards for The Paperback Macbeth and Simon van Booy for Little Birds

The McKitterick Prize

Winner: Raphael Selbourne received £4,000 for Beauty (Tindal Street Press)

The Betty Trask Prize and Awards

Prize winner: Nadifa Mohamed received £10,000 for Black Mamba Boy (HarperCollins)
Award winners: Evie Wyld received £7,000 for After the Fire, a Still Small Voice (Cape), Jenn Ashworth received £1,500 for A Kind of Intimacy (Arcadia) and Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani received £1,500 for I Do Not Come to You by Chance (Weidenfeld)

Poetry Awards

The Eric Gregory Awards

Winners: Phil Brown, Matthew Gregory, Sarah Howe, Abigail Parry and Ahren Warner – each received £4,000

The Cholmondeley Awards

Winners: Gillian Allnutt, Colette Bryce, Gwyneth Lewis and Deryn Rees-Jones – each received £1,500