Dame Beryl has won several awards in her career

Dame Beryl, the acclaimed author of 23 books, was given the David Cohen Prize at a ceremony in London on Thursday night.

She shared the honour with poet Thom Gunn and each received �40,000.

Dame Beryl's critically praised books include An Awfully Big Adventure - made into a film starring Hugh Grant - and Master Georgie.

Collecting the prize, she said: "I'm extremely honoured, and lucky, to receive this award - not least because I share it with so distinguished a poet as Thom Gunn.

Titles by Beryl Bainbridge According to Queenie Sweet William Something Happened Yesterday Young Adolf A Quiet Life English Journey

"I believe luck plays an important part in a writer's life, and I was very lucky right from the start of my career."

Dame Beryl has won several literary awards, including the Whitbread for Every Man For Himself and Injury Time and the Guardian Fiction Prize for The Dressmaker.

She has also been shortlisted for the Booker Prize on six occasions.

It is the first time the David Cohen prize - given by the Arts Council of England - has been awarded to two people.

Gunn, 73, is the first poet to have won. He was born in Kent in the UK but has lived in San Francisco, US, for more than 40 years.

He has published more than 30 books of poetry, including Boss Cupid, Frontiers of Gossip and The Passages of Joy.

He also teaches English at the University of California in Berkeley.

'Excellence and truth'

The judging panel included Pat Barker, Professor John Carey, Michael Ondaatje and children's author Philip Pullman.

Chairman, poet laureate Andrew Motion, said the judges' decision had been difficult.

Playwright Harold Pinter has been a previous winner

"We debated long and hard about a range of writers but in the end could not separate the poet and the novelist.

"Thom Gunn and Beryl Bainbridge, in their different ways, have pursued not just excellence but truth in their work."

Previous winners have included V S Naipaul, Harold Pinter and Doris Lessing.

Each winner donates �5,000 of their prize money to encourage further reading or writing.

Dame Beryl will give her share to the King's Lynn Literature Festival.

Gunn chose to benefit the Arvon Foundation, which organises creative writing courses.