The Encore Award

The Encore Award was first presented in 1990 to celebrate the achievement of outstanding second novels. The Award fills a niche in the catalogue of literary prizes. The RSL has administrated the award since 2016.

The Encore Award 2021

We are excited to announce that Caoilinn Hughes has won the 2021 Encore Award with The Wild Laughter (Oneworld). The annual Prize of £10,000 is awarded for best second novel of the year.

‘The judges found Caoilinn Hughes’ The Wild Laughter to be a grand feat of comic ingenuity, mischievous and insightful, and full of resonance for the way we live now. The voice of Caoilinn’s doomed narrator, Doharty ‘Hart’ Black, is so original and vibrant, with a very particular poetic vernacular. This is a story of modern Ireland, set in the crash post Celtic Tiger, but it also feels timeless in many ways, with Biblical myth simmering under the surface. The Wild Laughter is a real page-turner, in spite of its literary heart, and a joy to read. We all look forward to reading more from Caoilinn Hughes in the years to come.’
– Encore Award Judges Nikita Lalwani, Paul Muldoon and Sian Cain.

‘The trail between the first and second novel is rough terrain. But the readership a writer finds through her second novel is the more enduring readership. The Encore Award is a crucial recognition of its stakes. This Award helped to bring Irish writer heroes like Dermot Healy, Anne Enright and Colm Tóibín to the fore, not to mention Sally Rooney and Lisa McInerney more recently. UK writers I so admire like Ali Smith and A L Kennedy were also championed early on by this award. To be following this lineage is strange and glorious.’
– Caoilinn Hughes, Winner of the Encore Award 2021

Watch our announcement video here: 

Read the press release for more information.

Other books on the 2021 shortlist

• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
• Should We Fall Behind by Sharon Duggal (Bluemoose Books)
• The Blind Light by Stuart Evers (Picador)
• The First Woman by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi (One World)

Please read the press release for more information.

For press enquiries relating to the Encore Award please contact Clair Chamberlain at Bread and Butter PR: [email protected]

For questions about awards and prizes, please contact Martha Stenhouse, General Manager, [email protected].

The Encore Award 2020

The winner of the 2020 Encore Award was Patrick McGuinness with Throw Me to the Wolves (Jonathan Cape). This was the 30th year of the Award. The judges were Edmund Gordon, Nikita Lalwani and Eley Williams.

Please read the press release for further information.

Watch the 2020 winner announcement below:

 

In celebration of the 30th year of the Award previous winners share their reflections on winning best second novel:

Past Awards
*Joint winners

2020	Patrick McGuinness	Throw Me to the Wolves
2019	Sally Rooney	Normal People
2018*	Andrew Michael Hurley Lisa McInerney	Devil’s Day The Blood Miracles
2017	Ian McGuire	The North Water
2015	Sunjeev Sahota	The Year of the Runaways
2014	Neel Mukherjee	The Lives of Others
2013	Evie Wyld	All the Birds, Singing
2012	Ned Beauman	The Teleportation Accident
2011	Joe Dunthorne	Wild Abandon
2010	Adam Foulds	The Quickening Maze
2009	Julia Leigh	Disquiet
2007	M.J. Hyland	Carry Me Down
2005	Nadeem Aslam	Maps for Lost Lovers
2004	Michelle de Kretser	The Hamilton Case
2003	Jeremy Gavron	The Book of Israel
2002	Ali Smith	Hotel World
2001	Anne Enright	What Are You Like?
2000*	John Burnside Claire Messud Matt Thorne Phil Whitaker	The Mercy Boys The Last Life Eight Minutes Idle Triangulation
1999	Christina Koning	Undiscovered Country
1998*	Alan Warner Timothy O’Grady	These Demented Lands I could Read the Sky
1997	David Flusfeder	Like Plastic
1996	A.L. Kennedy	So I Am Glad
1995	Dermot Healy	A Goat’s Song
1994	Amit Chaudhuri	Afternoon Raag
1993	Colm Tóibín	The Heather Blazing
1992	Iain Sinclair	Downriver
1991	Carey Harrison	Richard’s Feet
1990*	Paul Watkins Peter Benson	Calm at Sunset, Calm at Dawn A Lesser Dependency