Richard Ayoade, Sandi Toskvig and Outnumbered co-writer Guy Jenkin are among the authors nominated for the 2025 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction.
Now in its 25th year, the award is the UK’s longest running prize for comic fiction and previous winners have included bestselling novelists Terry Pratchett, Helen Fielding and Bob Mortimer.
Rosanna Pike, Nussaibah Younis, Alexander Sammartino, Kate Greathead and Sanam Mahloudji complete this year’s shortlist.
Chair of the judges Peter Florence said: ‘What a fabulous year for comic fiction. We’re thrilled with this bumper shortlist of eight great reads.
‘There is a delightful mix of comedies here from darkest satire and period farce to lightest humour. I can’t wait for the final jury meeting. Whichever novel wins will be a comic banger Wodehouse might enjoy."
Joining him on the pane were comedian Pippa Evans, novelist and critic Stephanie Merritt, broadcaster James Naughtie, Justin Albert, the vice-chair of the University of Wales, and David Campbell, the publisher of Everyman’s Library.
Each of the shortlisted authors will receive a magnum of Bollinger Special Cuvée and a copy of The Code of The Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse.
The winner will be announced at a reception on December 1 in London and will both a jeroboam of Bollinger – equivalent to four normal bottles – plus a full case of the champagne; the complete set of the Everyman’s Library P.G. Wodehouse collection and a pig named after their winning book.
The eight shortlisted books, with comments from the judges, are:
Born a vagabond, Tibb Ingleby has never had a roof of her own. Her mother has taught her that if you’re not too bound by the Big Man’s rules, there are many ways a woman can find shelter in this world. But now her ma is gone. As she journeys through the fields and forests of medieval England, Tibb discovers that there are people who will care for her, as well as those who mean her harm. And there are a great many others who are prepared to believe just about anything…
So, when the opportunity presents itself to escape the shackles society has placed on them, Tibb and her new friends conjure an audacious plan: her greatest trickerie yet. But before they know it, their hoax takes on a life of its own, drawing crowds - and vengeful enemies - to their door. This is a debut novel.
Stephanie Merritt said: 'Rosanna Pike’s debut is a glorious, Chaucerian romp written with a unique voice and a delight in bawdy and farce. I fell in love with the character of Tibb immediately, and with Pike’s take on medieval England.'
After much searching, the happily married young couple, Amber and Stevie think they have found the perfect spot in Grimaldi Square. Despite the rundown pub across the way, the overgrown garden and a decidedly nosy neighbour, number 4 is the house of their dreams. Stevie, a woman who has never left anything to chance, has planned everything so nothing can spoil their happiness. But upstairs in their new home, seated on an old red sofa is the woman they bought the place from - eighty-year-old foul-mouthed, straight-talking, wise-cracking Dorothy - who has decided that she's not going anywhere. It turns out that Dorothy will be only the first in a line of life-changing surprises.
David Campbell said: ‘Friends of Dorothy is a lovely warm novel about a young couple who buy their first house to discover the previous owner is not leaving. Dorothy, 80 years old, is wonderfully foul-mouthed and funny.’
Nadia is an academic who's been disowned by her puritanical mother and dumped by her lover, Rosy. She decides to make a getaway, accepting a UN job in Iraq. Tasked with rehabilitating ISIS women, Nadia becomes mired in the opaque world of international aid, surrounded by bumbling colleagues. Sara is a precocious and sweary East Londoner who joined ISIS at just fifteen. Nadia is struck by how similar they are: both feisty and opinionated, from a Muslim background, with a shared love of Dairy Milk and rude pick-up lines. A powerful friendship forms between the two women, until a secret confession from Sara threatens everything Nadia has been working for. This is a debut novel.
David Campbell said: ‘Fundamentally is a wild ride. A remarkable first novel set among ISIS brides in Iraq. Brave, chilling and often hilarious.’
Even though his firearms store is failing, things are looking up for David Rizzo. His son, Nick, has just recovered after a near-fatal overdose, which means one thing: Rizzo can use Nick's resurrection to create the most compelling television commercial for a gun emporium the world has ever seen. After all, this is America, Rizzo tells himself. Surely anything is possible. But the relationship between father and son is fragile, mired in mutual disappointment. And when the pair embarks on their scheme to avoid bankruptcy, a high-stakes crash of hijinks, hope and disaster ensues. This is a debut novel.
James Naughtie said: ‘How do you run a gun shop in Arizona and fail to make any money? David Rizzo knows the feeling, and also learns that enlisting his son to try to save the business is an even bigger mistake. Alexander Sammartino's first novel is a rollicking satire on contemporary America that has a bitter laugh on every page.’
It’s 1593, Elizabeth I is Queen and everyone is terrified of the worst outbreak of plague in a generation. Shakespeare has only written six plays and is lagging behind his friend Christopher Marlowe, London’s leading playwright. When Marlowe is stabbed to death in mysterious circumstances, rumours abound – but the one that won’t go away is that Shakespeare did it to remove his greatest rival. Will is determined to clear his name, and teams up with his old flame, Marlowe’s sister Ann, who has plenty of secrets of her own. In their search to solve the crime, Will and Ann uncover a dark world of treachery, murder, and corruption – which in turn provides Shakespeare with scenes and characters which will appear in his greatest plays. A dark, witty and fast-paced novel, from one of Britain’s best-loved screenwriters.
Justin Albert said: ‘Guy Jenkin’s Murder Most Foul is a brilliantly subversive romp — razor-sharp, darkly funny, and utterly Wodehousian in its wit and mischief.’
We all know a George. He doesn’t know if he’s *in* love, but he definitely likes having his girlfriend around. He means to text his mum on Mother’s Day, but he just forgets. He swears he’ll finish his novel… one day. Sure, you find him disappointing. But no one is more disappointed in George than George himself. As funny as it is astute, and as singular as it is universal, The Book of George is a deft, unexpectedly moving never-coming-of-age novel that will speak to anyone who has been thrown into the role of reluctant mother, unoffical cleaner, or unqualified therapist to a George in their own life.
Pippa Evans said: ‘A hilariously excruciating journey into the dangers of navel gazing as we watch George stumble through adulthood - I couldn’t put it down whilst simultaneously needing to shout "Stop it, George!" at every page.’
The Valiat family are in crisis. Elizabeth, the regal matriarch, remained in Tehran despite the revolution and only has Niaz, her Islamic law-breaking granddaughter for company. In America, Elizabeth’ s daughters, the flamboyantly high-flying Shirin and frustrated housewife Seema, arewondering if their new lives there are all they had hoped for. Lastly, there’s the second granddaughter, Bita, a disillusioned law student trying to find deeper meaning by giving away her worldly belongings.
When an annual vacation in Aspen goes wildly awry and Shirin ends up being bailed out of jail, gossip about the family spreads like wildfire. Soon, Shirin sets out to restore the family name to its former glory. But what does that mean in a country where the Valiats never mattered to anyone? And, will reputation be enough to make them a family again?
The Persians is an irresistible portrait of a unique family in turmoil that explores timeless questions of love, money, art and fulfilment. Here is their past, their present and a possible new future for them all. This is a debut novel.
Pippa Evans said: ‘I found myself lost in this beautifully written novel and laughing as much as I wept. Multi-generational stories are rich in hilarious moments as we watch generations clash with the ideas that came before.’
A hilarious fictional quest to rescue a mythical mid-century playwright from obscurity. The gifted filmmaker, corduroy activist and amateur dentist, Richard Ayoade, first chanced upon a copy of The Two-Hander Trilogy by Harauld Hughes in a second-hand bookshop.
At first startled by his uncanny resemblance to the author’s photo, he opened the volume and was electrified. Terse, aggressive, and elliptical, what was true of Ayoade was also true of Hughes’s writing, which encompassed stage, screen, and some of the shortest poems ever published. Ayoade embarked on a documentary, The Unfinished Harauld Hughes, to understand the unfathomable collapse of Hughes’s final film O Bedlam! O Bedlam!, taking us deep inside the most furious British writer since the Boer War. This is the story of that quest.
Stephanie Merritt said: ‘A pitch-perfect literary parody, packed with deft wordplay and lines that made me laugh aloud on almost every page. Ayoade has an instinctive ear for the comic possibilities of language.’
The shortlist was chosen from a record 107 submissions, published between 1 June 2024 and 31 May 2025.
