Black and British longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Books 2017
Black and British by David Olusoga has been longlisted for Britain’s most prestigious prize for political writing, the Orwell Prize for Books.
The Orwell Prize uses the work of George Orwell to celebrate honest writing and reporting, to uncover hidden lives, to confront uncomfortable truths and, in doing so, to promote Orwell’s values of integrity, decency and fidelity to truth. Every year, the Orwell Prize award prizes for the work which comes closest to Orwell’s ambition ‘to make political writing into an art’.
This year's diverse longlist features memoir, historical writing, fiction and reporting from established names and new voices, and reaches across the United Kingdom, Ireland, and beyond.
The judges commented: “From Hadrian’s Wall to Brexit and a dystopian fictional future, this year’s list offers a clear and calm perspective on Britain and its place in the world. The books reflect many aspects of Orwell’s literary character and interests: fiction, journalism, football, language and landscape”.
The full Orwell Prize for Books 2017 longlist:
The Power by Naomi Alderman (Viking)
Citizen Clem by John Bew (Quercus)
The Seven by Ruth Dudley Edwards (Oneworld)
The Return by Hisham Matar (Viking)
Black and British by David Olusoga (Macmillan)
The Life Project by Helen Pearson (Allen Lane)
Easternisation by Gideon Rachman (The Bodley Head)
All Out War by Tim Shipman (HarperCollins UK)
The Marches by Rory Stewart (Vintage, Jonathan Cape)
Island Story by J. D. Taylor (Repeater)
And the Sun Shines Now by Adrian Tempany (Faber & Faber)
Enough Said by Mark Thompson (The Bodley Head)
Cut by Hibo Wardere, in collaboration with Anna Wharton (Simon & Schuster)
Another Day in the Death of America by Gary Younge (Guardian Faber)
Shortlists for the Orwell Prize for Books will be announced at a special lecture with Ruth Davidson, Scottish Conservative leader on Monday 15th May 2017, together with shortlists for the Orwell Prize for Journalism and the Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils. The winner of each £3000 prize will be announced at a ceremony during UCL’s Festival of Culture on Thursday 8th June 2017.