Sir Kazuo Ishiguro to Receive the Critics’ Circle Rose Bowl for Distinguished Service to the Arts

The Critics’ Circle is delighted to announce that this year’s recipient of its prestigious Rose Bowl Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts is author, screenwriter and Nobel prizewinner Sir Kazuo Ishiguro. The award will be formally presented on November 5th, during a celebratory luncheon held in his honour.

Since its inception in 1988, the Rose Bowl has been awarded annually by the Critics’ Circle to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the arts. Voted for by members across all branches of the Circle—including Dance, Drama, Film, Music, Visual Arts, Architecture and Books—the award reflects the breadth of achievement across the cultural landscape.

Previous recipients have included some of the most distinguished figures of the creative world, including Sir David Lean, Sir John Mills, Dame Judi Dench, Dame Helen Mirren, Matthew Bourne, David Hockney, Michael Frayn and last year, Tilda Swinton.This year, the Critics’ Circle is proud to add Sir Kazuo Ishiguro  to that celebrated company.

The publication of ‘A Pale View of Hills’ in 1982 announced the arrival of a singular literary talent. In 1983 Kazuo Ishiguro was listed as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists, alongside Martin Amis, Julian Barnes and Pat Barker, although he has commented ‘I wasn’t even British at the time’ (he was born in Nagasaki in 1954). His third novel, ‘The Remains of the Day’, won the Booker Prize in 1989 and was made into an acclaimed film starring another Rosebowl recipient, Dame Emma Thompson. ‘Never Let Me Go’ (2005), shortlisted for the Man Booker, was made into a film starring Carey Mulligan in 2010. Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2017, Sir Kazuo continues to push into unexpected and bold  territory with every new work, from the deep past to the dystopian near future. The film version of ‘Klara and the Sun’ is released this month, and Sir Kazuo’s new novel, ‘Miss Lambert Steps Aboard Danger’, will be published in March. 

Author photo c Jeff Cottenden