Commonwealth Writers’
this award is broken up into four regional awards (Africa, Europe and South Asia, The Caribbean and Canada, and South East Asia and the South Pacific), one each for best book and best first book. among those a winner for best book and best first book is chosen.
2010
Africa
Best Book The Double Crown by Marié Heese (South Africa)
First Book I Do Not Come to You By Chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani (Nigeria)
Caribbean and Canada
Best Book Galore by Michael Crummey (Canada)
First Book Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell (Canada)
South Asia and Europe
* Best Book Solo by Rana Dasgupta (India/UK)
First Book In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin (Pakistan)
SE Asia and Pacific
Best Book The Adventures of Vela by Albert Wendt (Samoa)
* First Book Siddon Rock by Glenda Guest (Australia)
2009
Africa
Best Book The Lost Colours of the Chameleon by Mandla Langa (South Africa)
First Book Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan (Nigeria)
Canada and the Caribbean
Best Book Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott (Canada)
First Book Reading by Lightning by Joan Thomas (Canada)
Europe and South Asia
Best Book Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (UK)
* First Book A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif (Pakistan)
SE Asia and South Pacific
* Best Book The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas (Australia)
First Book The Year of the Shanghai Shark by Mo Zhi Hong (New Zealand)
2008
Africa
Best Book The Hangman’s Game by Karen King-Aribisala (Nigeria)
First Book Imagine This by Sade Adeniran (Nigeria)
Canada and the Caribbean
* Best Book The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (Canada)
First Book The End of the Alphabet by C.S. Richardson (Canada)
Europe and South Asia
Best Book Animal’s People by Indra Sinha (India)
* First Book A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam (Bangladesh)
SE Asia and South Pacific
Best Book The Time We Have Taken by Steven Carroll (Australia)
First Book The Anatomy of Wings by Karen Foxlee (Australia)
2007
Africa
Best Book The Native Commissioner by Shaun Johnson (South Africa)
First Book All We Have Left Unsaid by Maxine Case (South Africa)
Canada and the Caribbean
Best Book The Friends of Meager Fortune by David Adams Richards (Canada)
* First Book Vandal Love by DY Bechard (Canada)
Europe and South Asia
Best Book The Perfect Man by Naeem Murr (UK)
First Book In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar (UK)
SE Asia and South Pacific
* Best Book Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (New Zealand)
First Book Tuvalu by Andrew O’Connor (Australia)
2006
Africa
Best Book The Sun by Night by Benjamin Kwayke (Ghana)
First Book Tropical Fish: Stories out of Entebbe by Doreen Baingana (Uganda)
Canada and the Caribbean
Best Book Alligator by Lisa Moore (Canada)
* First Book Suspended Sentences: Fictions of Atonement by Mark McWatt (Guyana)
Europe and South Asia
Best Book On Beauty by Zadie Smith (UK)
First Book Lazy Eye by Donna Daley-Clarke (UK)
SE Asia and South Pacific
* Best Book The Secret River by Kate Grenville (Australia)
First Book The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw (Malaysia)
2005
Africa
Best Book Boy by Lindsey Collen (South Africa)
* First Book Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)
Canada and the Caribbean
Best Book Runaway by Alice Munro (Canada)
First Book Natasha and Other Stories by David Bezmozgis (Canada)
Europe and South Asia
* Best Book Small Island by Andrea Levy (UK)
First Book The Sari Shop by Rupa Bajwa (India)
SE Asia and South Pacific
Best Book The White Earth by Andrew McGahan (Australia)
First Book Home by Larissa Behrendt (Australia)
2004
Africa
Best Book The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut (South Africa)
First Book Gardening at Night by Diane Awerbuck (South Africa)
Canada and the Caribbean
Best Book Deafening by Frances Itani (Canada)
First Book Madame Proust and the Kosher Kitchen by Kate Taylor (Canada)
Europe and South Asia
* Best Book A Distant Shore by Caryl Phillips (UK)
* First Book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (UK)
SE Asia and South Pacific
Best Book The Hamilton Case by Michelle de Kretser (Australia)
First Book Somewhere, Home by Nada Awar Jarrar (Australia)
2003
Africa
Best Book The Other Side of Silence by André Brink (South Africa)
First Book Waiting for an Angel by Helon Habila (Nigeria)
Canada and the Caribbean
* Best Book The Polished Hoe by Austin Clarke (Canada)
First Book The Scent of a Lie by Paulo da Costa (Canada)
Europe and South Asia
Best Book Spies by Michael Frayn (UK)
* First Book Haweswater by Sarah Hall (UK)
SE Asia and South Pacific
Best Book Of a Boy by Sonya Hartnett (Australia)
First Book The Rice Mother by Rani Manicka (Malaysia)
2002
Africa
Best Book The Pick Up by Nadine Gordimer (South Africa)
* First Book Ama by Manu Herbstein (South Africa)
Canada and the Caribbean
Best Book Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro (Canada)
First Book Martin Sloane by Michael Redhill (Canada)
Europe and South Asia
Best Book Atonement by Ian McEwan (UK)
First Book The 18th Pale Descendant by William Muir (UK)
SE Asia and South Pacific
* Best Book Gould’s Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan (Australia)
First Book In the Blue House by Meaghan Delahunt (Australia)
2001
Africa
Best Book The Heart of Redness by Zakes Mda (South Africa)
First Book Thirteen Cents by K Sello Duiker (South Africa)
Canada and the Caribbean
Best Book The Hero’s Walk by Anita Rau Badami (Canada)
First Book Burning Ground by Pearl Luke (Canada)
Europe and South Asia
Best Book Super-Cannes by J G Ballard (UK)
* First Book White Teeth by Zadie Smith (UK)
SE Asia and South Pacific
* Best Book True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey (Australia)
First Book The Company by Arabella Edge (Australia)
2000
Africa
* Best Book Disgrace by J M Coetzee (South Africa)
First Book The Legend of the Rockhills and other Stories by Funso Aiyejina (Nigeria)
Canada and the Caribbean
Best Book What the Body Remembers by Shauna Singh Baldwin (Canada)
* First Book Prisoner in a Red-Rose Chain by Jeffrey Moore (Canada)
Europe and South Asia
Best Book The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie (UK)
First Book The Blue Bedspread by Raj Kamal Jha (India)
SE Asia and South Pacific
Best Book Too Many Men by Lily Brett (Australia)
First Book Reconnaissance by Kapka Kassabova (New Zealand)
1999
Africa
Best Book If You Can Walk, You Can Dance by Marion Molteno (South Africa)
First Book The Clothes of Nakedness by Benjamin Kwakye (Ghana)
Canada and the Caribbean
Best Book Aelred’s Sin by Lawrence Scott (Trinidad)
* First Book The Electrical Field by Kerri Sakamoto (Canada)
Europe and South Asia
Best Book Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge (UK)
First Book Difficult Daughters by Manju Kapur (India)
SE Asia and South Pacific
* Best Book Eucalyptus by Murray Bail (Australia)
First Book In a Fishbone Church by Catherine Chidgey (New Zealand)
1998
Africa
Best Book Walking Still by Charles Mungoshi (Zimbabwe)
First Book Dance with a Poor Man’s Daughter by Pamela Jooste (South Africa)
Canada and the Caribbean
Best Book Barney’s Version by Mordecai Richler (Canada)
* First Book Angel Falls by Tim Wynveen (Canada)
Europe and South Asia
Best Book Love and Longing in Bombay by Vikram Chandra (India)
First Book When Memory Dies by A Sivanandan (UK)
SE Asia and South Pacific
* Best Book Jack Maggs by Peter Carey (Australia)
First Book Deadset by Emma Tom (Australia)
1997
Africa
Best Book Under the Tongue by Yvonne Vera (Zimbabwe)
First Book At the Edge and other Cato Manor Stories by Ronnie Govender (South Africa)
Canada and the Caribbean
* Best Book Salt by Earl Lovelace (Trinidad)
* First Book Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald (Canada)
Europe and South Asia
Best Book Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge (UK)
First Book Interesting Facts about the State of Arizona by Jeremy Poolman (UK)
SE Asia and South Pacific
Best Book Leaning Towards Infinity by Sue Woolfe (Australia)
First Book Where We Once Belonged by Sia Figiel (Samoa)
1996
Africa
Best Book -
First Book Winds of Change by Dene Coetzee (South Africa)
Canada and the Caribbean
* Best Book A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (Canada)
First Book Icefields by Thomas Wharton (Canada)
Europe and South Asia
Best Book Therapy by David Lodge (UK)
* First Book Red Earth and Pouring Rain by Vikram Chandra (India)
SE Asia and South Pacific
Best Book The Grass Sister by Gillian Mears (Australia)
First Book Dead Sea Fruit by Charlotte Randall (New Zealand)
1995
Best Book Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
Best First Book Seasonal Adjustments by Adib Khan
1994
Best Book A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Best First Book The Case of Emily V by Keith Oatley
1993
Best Book The Ancestor Game by Alex Miller
Best First Book The Thousand Faces of Night by Gita Hariharan
1992
Best Book Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry
Best First Book Divina Trace by Robert Antoni
1991
Best Book The Great World by David Malouf
Best First Book Shape-Shifter by Pauline Melville
1990
Best Book Solomon Gursky Was Here by Mordecai Richler
Best First Book Visitors by John Cranna
1989
Best Book The Carpathians by Janet Frame
Best First Book Women of Influence by Bonnie Burnard
1988
Best Book Heroes by Festus Iyayi
1987
Best Book Summer Lightning by Olive Senior
join me in my adventures and bookish encounters as a born-again english student. non-fiction to literary fiction, some YA and a dabbling of things in between. i'm adding books to the to-read pile faster than they can be read! 
I am desperate to buy a copy of The Winds of Change by Dene Coetzee winner of best Africa 1996 but no idea where to find it. Help me please!!!!!!!
wow, i didn’t realize it would be so hard to find. amazon, indiebound, and book depository didn’t seem to have it…
however, it looks like abe books might have it. i’m not sure where you are and what shipping might look like, but give that a try and let me know if that helps!
I read this beginning of last year at my aunt’s house overseas and came across the same problem.
BUT, copies on ebay go all the time – so good luck!