The Penderyn Music Book Prize is the only UK-based book prize specifically for music titles including history, theory, biography, autobiography. It is now in its 11th year since it started in 2015. The winner will be announced at the Laugharne Weekend at 2pm, Sunday 30th March 2025.
Richard Thomas, organizer of both the prize and Laugharne Weekend: ‘It’s long been an oddity that while there are prizes for the best sports book of the year, the best travel book, the best food and drink book, there has never been a prize for the best music book. So when we spotted this glaring omission, we felt it was pretty much our civic duty to right that wrong. Publishers and booksellers alike agreed that this was indeed a prize waiting to happen, and one they’d gladly support. And seeing that the Laugharne Weekend’s drinking venue – also Dylan Thomas’s former local, The Brown’s – was well supplied with Penderyn Whisky, it didn’t take us long to think up our ideal sponsors for such a prize. Jon Tregenna, manager of Browns in 2014 and a media manager for Penderyn Distillery, took the concept to Stephen Davies, Penderyn’s CEO, and they sponsored the prize.’
Stephen Davies Chief Exec of Penderyn Distillery: ‘Good stories, music and the finest single malt go hand-in-hand, and Penderyn are big fans of the work Richard Thomas and John Williams have done with the Laugharne Weekend. As we all love our music at the distillery, we are delighted to sponsor this exciting prize.’
Judges
Lucy O’Brien
Lucy is a writer and journalist whose work includes highly acclaimed biographies of Dusty Springfield and Karen Carpenter
James Brown
In a long journalistic career James has been deputy editor of NME and editor of Loaded and GQ. His books have included ‘Animal House’ and ‘Above Head Height.
Helen O’Hara
Helen first came to prominence as the violinist with Dexys Midnight Runners and she currently plays with Tanita Tikaram and Tim Burgess. She published her memoir ‘What’s She Like ?’ in 2023
Allan Jones
Allan has been editor of both Melody Maker and Uncut. His two books of music memoirs have been published by Bloomsbury
Paul Hutton
Paul has been promoting live concerts for over 40 years working with the likes of Nick Cave, Patti Smith and Pulp.
Bob Stanley
Bob is a musician and writer. He performs with Saint Etienne and his book ‘Lets Do It’ won The Penderyn Prize
Longlist Books
My Family and Other Rock Stars – Tiffany Murray (Fleet)
And the Roots of Rhythm Remain: A Journey Through Global Music – Joe Boyd (Faber & Faber)
Never Understood: The Jesus and Mary Chain – James Reid and William Reid (White Rabbit)
Postcards from Scotland: Scottish Independent Music 1983-1995 – Grant McPhee (Omnibus Press)
Street-Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence – Will Hodgkinson (Night Eight Books)
Pressure Drop: Reggae in the Seventies – John Masouri (Omnibus Press)
Hip Hop is History- Questlove (White Rabbit Books)
Two-Headed Doctor: Listening For Ghosts in Dr. Johns Gris-Gris – David Toop (Strange Attractor Press)
To Ease My Troubled Mind: The Authorised Unauthorised History of Billy Childish – Ted Kessler (White Rabbit)
Searching for Dexys Midnight Runners – Nige Tassell (Nine Eight Books)
The Secret Public: How LGBTQ Performers Shaped Popular Culture – Jon Savage (Faber & Faber)
Travels Over Feeling: Arthur Russell, a Life – Richard King (Faber & Faber)
The Beach Boys – The Beach Boys (Genesis Publications)
Connection is a Song: Coming Up and Coming Out Through the Music of the ’90s – Anna Doble (Nine Eight Books)
3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool – James Kaplan (Penguin Press)
Previous Winners
2024 – Michael Cragg – Reach For The Stars ( Nine Eight Books)
2023 – Bob Stanley – Let’s Do It (Faber & Faber)
2022 – Darryl W Bullock – The Velvet Maffia (Omnibus Press)
2021 – Pete Paphides – Broken Greek (Quercus)
2020 – Bruce Conforth and Gayle Dean Wardlow – Up Jumped The Devil – The Real Life of Robert Johnson (Omnibus)
2019 – Shirley Collins – ‘All In The Downs’ (Strange Attractor)
2018 – Stuart Cosgrove – ‘Memphis 68: The Tragedy of Southern Soul’ (Polygon)
2017 – Daniel Rachel – ‘Walls Come Tumbling Down’ (Picador)
2016 – Jon Savage – ‘1966: The Year The Decade Exploded’ (Faber)
2015 – Mark Lewisohn – ‘The Beatles – All These Years: Volume One: Tune In’ (Little, Brown)