Howard Jacobson has just been announced the winner of this year’s prestigious Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, the only annual literary award for humorous literature, for his novel Zoo Time, making him the first author to have ever won the award twice.
The competition celebrates books that are deemed to have captured the comic spirit of P.G. Wodehouse, author of the immortal Jeeves & Wooster and Blandings novels.
Jacobson won the first ever Wodehouse prize in 2000 for his novel The Mighty Walzer. His prize consisted of a Bollinger Champagne, a complete set of Wodehouse’s works, and - perhaps most fittingly for the spirit of Wodehouse – a Gloucestershire Old Spot pig will be named after after his book!
Although we don’t (yet) have a copy of Zoo Time in our collection, we do have other works by Howard Jacobson among our collection, as well as previous winners of the award among our Leisure Reading collection, including Vernon God Little by D.B.C. Pierre (2003), Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday (2007) and Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart (2011 – pictured above with his award). That’s in addition to a variety of contemporary and classic comic works by the likes of Terry Pratchett, Stephen Fry, Alan Bennett and, of course, P.G. Wodehouse. So if you’re stuck for something to lighten your exam mood, why not have a browse today?
Gary Shteyngart with his 2011 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Award, image by Katie A3, reproduced under CC License from Flickr.
Hopefully you will have enjoyed using the Library over the course of your degree. There is just one thing to make sure you do before the last day of term – make sure your Library account is clear.
The British Library have just launched a competition inviting proposals for an innovative project utilising their vast digital collection. The eventual winner will receive £3000 and a residency at the British Library while their project is implimented.
