First established in 1987, the prestigious Commonwealth Writers’ Prize encourages and promotes new fiction (written in English) across the 53 membership countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. The prize also ensures the works reach a wider audience outside their country of origin.

Two categories – best book and best first book – result in two winners from four regions of the world (Africa; Caribbean and Canada; South Asia and Europe; South East Asia and Pacific). The overall recipients for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for best book and Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for best first book are selected from the regional winners.

Immediate financial gain is not huge – £1,000 per regional winner. But authors collect £10,000 for the overall best book and £5,000 for the best first book. The important issue for the writers is that each of the regional winners (and many on the shortlists) are likely to be published in the bigger markets of the UK, Canada and Australia.