National Book Prize 2018 – announcement

The National Book Prize is the highest literary prize assigned to authors, publishers and illustrators for work published locally the year before.

The National Book Prize 2018 for books published in 2017 will be celebrated on Friday 30 November at Auberge de Castille. Out of a total of 25 shortlisted books in four categories, excluding the short stories, drama and translation categories in which none of the entries were shortlisted, the winners in each category will be announced and invited, along with the publisher of the winning book, to receive the award. The event will be held under the patronage of the Prime Minister and is a private event.

The Prize, whose history dates back to 1971, comprises seven categories but it also includes special awards as recognition of an author’s literary contribution, such as the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award and the Best Emergent Author Award. The Terramaxka Prize, whose award ceremony was celebrated in a private event at the Mediterranean Conference Centre on Tuesday 6 November, awards books for children and young adults, whereas the National Book Prize is more adult-oriented with its categories of novels, short stories, poetry, drama, translation, biographical and historiographical research, and general research.

Almost all the categories were well represented in the shortlist this year, particularly the novels category and the two research categories. The complete shortlist of the 2018 Prize was released earlier this year in August and members of the public are urged to peruse this list as a reliable indicator of the highest quality literature published in 2017.

The results will be made public immediately after the ceremony on Friday 30 November with a press release that will be published on the NBC website, FB page and in the press.

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