Richard Flanagan's Question 7 wins The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2024
LONDON, Nov. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Question 7 by Richard Flanagan is tonight named winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2024. The winner was announced by Chair of Judges, Isabel Hilton, at a ceremony hosted at BMA House in London, UK, and generously supported by The Blavatnik Family Foundation.
With his win, Flanagan becomes the first author to 'win the double' of the Booker Prize for Fiction and the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, an achievement that affirms him as one of the most significant and acclaimed writers in the English language.
Beginning at a love hotel by Japan's Inland Sea and ending by a river in Tasmania, Question 7 is about the choices we make about love and the chain reaction that follows. Exploring the value of life, Flanagan tackles far-ranging seemingly disparate personal and historical topics, from H.G. Wells' affair with Rebecca West, to the atomic bomb and his own near-death experience, expertly documenting life's chain reaction: from past to present to future.
The Baillie Gifford Prize recognises and rewards the best of non-fiction and is open to authors of any nationality. As the winner, Richard Flanagan will receive £50,000, with the other shortlisted authors each receiving £5,000, bringing the total prize value to £75,000.
Question 7 was chosen by this year's judging panel: journalist, broadcaster and founder of China Dialogue, Isabel Hilton (chair); author and investigative journalist, Heather Brooke; comment and culture editor for New Scientist, Alison Flood; culture editor of Prospect, Peter Hoskin; writer and critic, Tomiwa Owolade; and author, restaurant critic and journalist, Chitra Ramaswamy. Their selection was made from 349 books published between 1 November 2023 and 31 October 2024.
Read Smart, the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction's podcast, will release an episode devoted to the winner of the 2024 award, hosted by Georgina Godwin and featuring Richard Flanagan. It will be available the week following the winner announcement.
For information about the prize visit: www.thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk or follow us on Twitter @BGPrize #BGPrize2024
Images available to download here.
Notes to editors can be found here.
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