Judges announced for the 2027 Gordon Burn Prize
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Best-selling author Val McDermid will chair a judging panel comprising journalist and author Lanre Bakare, author Eliza Clark, novelist and screenwriter Nikita Lalwani, and singer and songwriter Paul Smith, for the 2027 Gordon Burn Prize.
The Gordon Burn Prize celebrates bold and fearless writing and has become one of literature’s most sought-after honours for books that often find their readers outside the mainstream.
The £10,000 prize is now open for submissions until 1 August 2026. Fiction or non-fiction books published in English between 1 December 2025 and 30 November 2026, by authors anywhere in the world, are eligible.
McDermid is one of the UK’s most accomplished novelists and has sold over 19 million books to date across the globe. Her work has been translated into more than 40 languages and adapted for screen. This is her second year of chairing the Gordon Burn Prize panel.
New judge Paul Smith says “I always look out for who gets nominated – it’s always a really interesting shortlist. I look forward to getting my teeth into the longlist and then discussing the books with Val and the other judges.”
The Gordon Burn Prize is run in partnership by New Writing North, Faber, andthe Gordon Burn Trust, and is supported by Newcastle University and the Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts (NCLA). It remembers Gordon Burn, the journalist and author of novels including Alma Cogan and Born Yesterday: The News as a Novel, and non-fiction including Happy Like Murderers: The Story of Fred and Rosemary West.
The 2026 Gordon Burn Prize was won by Maria Reva for Endling, published by Virago. Other recent winners have included Jenni Fagan for Ootlin (2025); Kathryn Scanlan for Kick the Latch (2023/24) Aftermath by Preti Taneja (2022); and A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance, by Hanif Abdurraqib (2021).
The prize will be awarded in March 2027 in Gordon Burn’s home city, Newcastle upon Tyne, with support from Newcastle University.