| Notes | The award ceremony was held on 20 October 1981.
The shortlisted authors were:
Salman Rushdie with the winning novel 'Midnight's Children', published by Cape,
Molly Keane with 'Good Behaviour', published by Deutsch,
Doris Lessing with 'The Sirian Experiments', published by Cape,
Ian McEwan with 'The Comfort of Strangers', published by Cape,
Ann Schlee with 'Rhine Journey', published by Macmillan,
Muriel Spark with 'Loitering with Intent', published by Bodley Head, and
D. M. Thomas with 'The White Hotel', published by Gollancz.
The Judges were Professor Malcolm Bradbury (Chair), Brian Aldiss, Joan Bakewell, Samuel Hynes, and Hermione Lee. |