Literature Awards (England), 1980s

This table records the available information regarding the Arts Council’s direct grants to writers and publishers. For a more detailed breakdown about the funding of literary magazines, organisations and festivals, see the individual Annual Reports.

1979/80

Grants for Writers and Translators are not listed in the Annual Report for this year.

TypeNameWorkAmount (£)Annual Total (£)Literature Department Total (£)Treasury Grant-in-Aid (£)
Grants to Publishers28, 975.00498, 466.0063,125,00.00
Bear Gardens Museum and Arts Centre Poems for Shakespeare 8, 19801,000.00
Bodley HeadFord Madox Ford (4 volumes)5,400.00
Eighteen-Nineties SocietySelected Letters of Arthur Symons5,000.00
Hamish HamiltonNews from the City of the Sun by Isobel Colegate500.00
Mirror, Mirror by Donald Green500.00
Jay LandesmanBy Grand Central Station I sat down and wept by Elizabeth Smart600.00
Poems of Eddie Linden500.00
John CalderNew Writers and Writing 183,000.00
London Magazine EditionsReflections on the Nile by Ronald Bottrall600.00
A Poor Man’s House by Stephen Reynolds1,265.00
The Many PressOverdrawn Account by P. Robinson660.00
Marion BoyarsSongs a Thracian Taught Me by Anne Beresford1,000.00
Oasis BooksA Night with Hamlet by Vladimir Holan
trans. Jarmila and Ian Milner
250.00
Peter OwenWinterspelt by Alfred Andersch1,000.00
Robson BooksCollected Poems of Vernon Scannell1,000.00
Poetry Dimension Annual 72,300.00
Virago The Beth Book by Sarah Grand1,500.00
Cotter’s England by Christina Stead1,400.00
Writers and Readers Publishing Co-operativeFor Beauty Douglas: The Collected Poems of Adrian Mitchell1,500.00

1981/82

TypeNameWorkAmount (£)Annual Total (£)Literature Department Total (£)Treasury Grant-in-Aid (£)
Awards to Writers and Translators41,000.00647, 531.0080, 450,000.00
David Cook
Elizabeth Jennings
Derek Mahon
Julia O’Faolain
Salman Rushdie
Peter Vainsittart
Grants to Publishers80, 803.00
Agenda EditionsThe Lamp by Penelope Palmer200.00
Allison and BusbyThe Pier by Rayner Heppenstall1, 740.00
For Beauty Douglas by Adrian Mitchell2,000.00
For the production of 16 books28,500.00
André DeutschSelected Poems of Philip Oakes180.00
The Word Game by R.E. Pickering850.00
The Athlone PressThe Individual and His Times: A Selection from the work of Roy Fuller308.00
Calder Educational Trust30,000.00
Centerprise TrustTime to Be Bold, Lotte Moos300.00
Chatto and WindusOrigins, Peter Howe375.00
Selected Poems by P.J. Kavanagh500.00
Hidden Identities, John Hartley Williams600.00
Faber & FaberPoetry Introduction 51,000.00
Best Stories of Walter de la Mare1,000.00
Siegfried’s Journey 1916-1920, Siegfried Sassoon1,200.00
Hamish HamiltonRefusenik, Mark Ya Azbel450.00
Hippopotamus PressA collection of poems by John Greening700.00
London Magazine EditionsVamp till Ready, Roy Fuller1,600.00
Learning to Swim and Other Stories, Graham Swift2,200.00
Sheba Feminist PressLoneliness and Other Lovers, Ann Oosthuizen500.00
Virago PressThe Song of the Lark, Willa Cather1,500.00
Losing Battles, Eudora Welty1,750.00
William HeinemannAs I Walked Down New Grub Street, Walter Allen2,500.00
World Centre for Shakespeare StudiesPoems for Shakespeare 9850.00

1982/83

The Annual Report this year incorporates larger block grants with work-specific grants to publishers.

TypeNameWorkAmount (£)Annual Total (£)Literature Department Total (£)Treasury Grant-in-Aid (£)
Literature Bursary47, 000.00747,835.0091,300,00.000
Fleur Adcock
Peter Brent
A.S. Byatt
J.L. Carr
Aidan Higgins
Christopher Hope
Peter Redgrove
Carol Rumens
Graham Swift
Lorna Tracy
Grants to Publishers162, 665.00
Agenda and Editions TrustToo Much Water, Peter Dale600.00
The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Peguy, Geoffrey Hill600.00
Alan RossHome and Dry, Roy Fuller1,500.00
An Umbrella from Piccadilly, Jaroslav Seifert750.00
Anvil Press 33,000.00
Binnacle PressRiverside Interviews 6: Tom McGrath500.00
Calder Educational Trust35,000.00
Carcanet Press41, 940.00
Chatto and WindusSamuel Johnson, Walter Jackson Bate1,000.00
A Rift in Time, Patric Dickinson600.00
New and Selected Poems, James Michie750.00
Enitharmon Press6,500.00
Faber & FaberIntroduction 8 1,200.00
Giacomo Joyce, James Joyce800.00
Literature in the Market Place, Per Gerdin1,000.00
The Selected Letters of Ezra Pound 1907-1941800.00
Harry Chambers/ Peterloo Poets16,400.00
Hippopotamus PressThe Banned Man, Shaun McCarthy1,000.00
Jonathan CapeColours of War, Alan Ross2,800.00
Marion Boyars Lament for Rastafari and Other Plays, Edgar White2,000.00
Michael RussellA Perception of India, Richard Terrell1,500.00
Oxford University PressFirst Childhood and Far from the Madding War, Lord Berners825.00
Routledge & Kegan PaulKing Horn, Michael Baldwin800.00
Secker & WarburgFor 7 poetry titles7,000.00
Virago PressTravels in West Africa, Mary Kingsley2,000.00
A Captive Spirit, Marina Tsvetaeva1,800.00

1983/84

The Annual Report this year incorporates larger block grants with work-specific grants to publishers.

TypeNameWorkAmount (£)Annual Total (£)Literature Department Total (£)Treasury Grant-in-Aid (£)
Awards to Writers58,000.00837,168.0096,080,000.00
William Anderson
Stephen Benatar
Roy Fisher
John Haffenden
Ronald Hayman
Ursula Holden
Shena Mackay
John Hope Mason
Richard Ollard
Peter Reading
Christopher Reid
Clive Sinclair
Carolyn Slaughter
George Szirtees
Rose Tremain
Hugo Williams
Grants to Publishers207,628.00
Alan Ross Transit, Brian Taylor800.00
Anvil Press40,950.00
Bodley HeadEnglish Fairy Tales, Joseph Jacob628.00
Braithwaite & TaylorThe Good Book Guide to Children’s Books10,000.00
Calder Educational Trust35,000.00
Carcanet Press52,000.00
Chatto & WindusBeing Geniuses Together, Robert McAemon and Kay Boyle1,000.00
Paying Guests, EF Benson700.00
Mrs Ames, EF Benson950.00
English PENPEN New Fiction 11,500.00
Enitharmon Press7,500.00
Faber & FaberPlays Introduction 14,000.00
Philip Larkin and Douglas Dunn: A Faber Poetry Cassette3,300.00
Harry Chambers/Peterloo Poets21,000.00
Harvester PressThyrza, George Gissing1,000.00
The Life of Jane Austen, John Halperin2,000.00
The Whirlpool, George Gissing900.00
Hodder and StoughtonGreat Cobbett, Daniel Green2,000.00
Journeyman PressThe Conquerors, Andre Malraux2,500.00
Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo2,500.00
Secker and WarburgFor 9 poetry titles9,000.00
Edmund Gosse, a biography, Ann Thwaite5,000.00
Trigon PressMark Only, TF Powys1,500.00
Virago PressThe Writings of Anna Wickham: Free Woman and Poet1,9000.00

1984/85

TypeNameWorkAmount (£)Annual Total (£)Literature Department TotalTreasury Grant-in-aid (£)
Awards to Writers82,300.00786,942.00101,900,000.00
Linda Anderson
Michael Baldwin
Elizabeth Bartlett
Gavin Ewart
Kyril Fitzlyon
Roger Green
David Harsent
Denis Hills
Robert Hyman
Kazuo Ishiguro
John Hope Mason
Kennett McLeish
Ben Okri
William Scammell
Fred Urquhart
Peter Vansittart
John Wain
Daniel Weissbort
Paul Winstanley
Ken Worpole
Kit Wright
Malcom Yorke
Grants to Publishers176,100.00
Anvil Press46,000.00
Calder Educational Trust35,000.00
Carcanet Press52,000.00
Cecil WoolfAn Approach to the Poetry of William Morris, JMS Tompkins3,000.00
English PENPEN New Poetry 11,500.00
Enitharmon Press7,500.00
Faber & FaberAuthor! Author! ed. Richard Findlater2,000.00
Marion BoyarsA Collection of Plays by Edgar White2,500.00
Martin Secker and WarburgFor 9 Poetry titles3,000.00
Peterloo Poets22,000.00
Routledge & Kegan PaulThe Man Named East, Peter Redgrove1,600.00

1985/86

TypeNameAmount (£)Annual Total (£)Literature Department TotalTreasury Grant-in-aid (£)
Awards to Writers15,000.00488,376.00106,050,000.00
Patricia Ferguson
James Lasdun
Adam Mars-Jones
Grants to Publishers139,500.00
Anvil Press50,500.00
Calder Educational Trust10,000.00
Carcanet Press52,000.00
Enitharmon Press5,000.00
Peterloo Poets22,000.00

1986/87

For more discussion on the unusual spending this year see Chapter 3.

TypeNameAmount (£)Annual Total (£)Literature Department TotalTreasury Grant-in-aid (£)
Awards to Writers15,000.00494,719.00135,600,000.00
Grace Nichols5,000.00
Balraj Khanna5,000.00
Mahmood Jamal5,000.00
Grants to Publishers134,500.00
Anvil Press52,500.00
Carcanet Press54,000.00
Enitharmon Press5,000.00
Peterloo Poets23,000.00

1987/1988

Stated emphasis on awarding poets.

TypeNameAmount (£)Annual Total (£)Literature Department TotalTreasury Grant-in-aid (£)
Awards to Writers15,600.00488,350.00139,300,000.00
Fleur Adcock
Ken Smith
Carole Satyamurti
Grants to Publishers134,500.00
Anvil Press55,500.00
Carcanet Press54,000.00
Enitharmon Press2,000.00
Peterloo Poets23,000.00

1988/89

The theme of the writers’ awards this year was writers specialising in books for young people.

This year, writers, publishers, magazines and literary organisations also received funding for projects on translation and ‘ethnic minority development‘.

TypeNameAmount (£)Annual Total (£)Literature Department TotalTreasury Grant-in-aid (£)
Awards to Writers15,000.00525,000,000.00152,411,000.00
John Agard
Leena Dhingra
Philip Gross
Millie Murray
Grants to Publishers104,500.00
Anvil Press50,500.00
Carcanet Press54,000.00