The Literature Prize announces it is to be sponsored by Folio

The new award, for serious literary fiction, will be known as The Folio Prize

Co-founded by Andrew Kidd of literary agency Aitken Alexander to celebrate 'the best English-language fiction from around the world,' the prize, now sponsored by The Folio Society, is worth £40,00 to the winner.

The inaugural Folio Prize will be presented in March 2014 for books published in the UK during 2013, written originally in English by authors from anywhere in the world.

Folio Society managing director Toby Hartwell said: 'The Folio Society has long been passionate about the publishing of classic literature in the most beautiful and desirable editions. With our sponsorship of The Folio Prize we seek to continue this tradition of excellence through recognising new writing of enduring quality; books that
will be read and treasured in a hundred years.' The Folio Society will publish an illustrated hardback edition of the winning title.

The Folio Prize Academy, which will judge the new award, includes some of the UK's most influential literary figures, including Jeannette Winterson, Ian McEwan, Philip Pullman, Zadie Smith, A.S. Byatt, Mark Haddon and John Banville. Overseas members of the Academy include Margaret Atwood, Junot Diaz and J.M. Coetzee.

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