Samuel Johnson Prize
Encyclopedia
The Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction (motto: "All the Best Stories are True") is one of the most prestigious prizes for non-fiction
writing. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award
and based on an anonymous
donation. The prize is named after Samuel Johnson
. The prize covers current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts. The competition is open to authors of any nationality whose work is published in the UK in English.
From its inception until 2008 the award was fully named The BBC FOUR Samuel Johnson Prize and managed by BBC Four
. In 2009 it was renamed as BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction and managed by BBC Two
. The new name reflected the BBC’s commitment to broadcasting coverage of the Prize on BBC 2, The Culture Show
. Prior to the name change in 2009, the monetary prize amount was for the winner, and each finalist received £2500. After 2009 the monetary prize was £20,000 for the winner, and each finalist received £1000.
for Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958–1962
.
The shortlist was announced 14 June 2011. The monetary prize for 2011 was £20,000 for the winner.
Shortlist
for Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
The longlist was announced 22 April 2010. The shortlist was announced May 26.
Shortlist
for Leviathan or, The Whale
The longlist was announced 14 May 2009. The shortlist was announced in late May. The judges announced the winner of the prize at an awards event at King's Place, London
on 30 June. The monetary prize for 2009 was £20,000 for the winner, and each finalist receives £1000.
Shortlist
for The Suspicions of Mr Whicher Or The Murder at Road Hill House (about the Constance Kent case).
Shortlist
for Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone
Shortlist
for 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare
Shortlist
for Like A Fiery Elephant: The Story of B. S. Johnson (about B. S. Johnson
)
Shortlist
for Stasiland
Shortlist
for Pushkin
Shortlist
for Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War
Shortlist
for The Third Reich
Shortlist
for Berlioz: Volume 2
Shortlist
for Stalingrad
Shortlist
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
writing. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award
NCR Book Award
The NCR Book Award, established in 1987 and sponsored by NCR, was the UK's major award to non-fiction It ended in 1998 and has been replaced by the Samuel Johnson Prize.-Winners:* 1988 David Thomson, Nairn in Darkness and Light...
and based on an anonymous
Anonymity
Anonymity is derived from the Greek word ἀνωνυμία, anonymia, meaning "without a name" or "namelessness". In colloquial use, anonymity typically refers to the state of an individual's personal identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown.There are many reasons why a...
donation. The prize is named after Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
. The prize covers current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts. The competition is open to authors of any nationality whose work is published in the UK in English.
From its inception until 2008 the award was fully named The BBC FOUR Samuel Johnson Prize and managed by BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
. In 2009 it was renamed as BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction and managed by BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
. The new name reflected the BBC’s commitment to broadcasting coverage of the Prize on BBC 2, The Culture Show
The Culture Show
The Culture Show is a weekly BBC Two Arts magazine programme. It is broadcast in the UK on Thursday nights at 7pm, focusing on the best of the week's arts and culture news, covering books, art, film, architecture, music, visual fashion and the performing arts...
. Prior to the name change in 2009, the monetary prize amount was for the winner, and each finalist received £2500. After 2009 the monetary prize was £20,000 for the winner, and each finalist received £1000.
2011
The winner was Frank DikötterFrank Dikötter
Frank Dikötter is a Dutch historian and author of Mao's Great Famine. The book won the 2011 Samuel Johnson Prize. Dikötter is Chair Professor of Humanities at the University of Hong Kong, where he teaches courses on both Mao and the Great Chinese Famine, and Professor of the Modern History of...
for Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958–1962
Mao's Great Famine
Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958–62, is a 2010 book by professor and historian Frank Dikötter about the Great Chinese Famine of 1958–1962....
.
The shortlist was announced 14 June 2011. The monetary prize for 2011 was £20,000 for the winner.
Shortlist
- Andrew Graham-DixonAndrew Graham-DixonAndrew Michael Graham-Dixon is a British art historian and broadcaster.-Education:Graham-Dixon was educated at the independent Westminster School and at Christ Church at the University of Oxford, where he read English...
, Caravaggio: A Life Sacred And Profane (bio of CaravaggioCaravaggioMichelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on the Baroque...
) - Maya Jasanoff, Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World
- Matt RidleyMatt RidleyMatthew White Ridley, FRSL, FMedSci is an English journalist, writer, biologist, and businessman.-Career:...
, The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves - Jonathan SteinbergJonathan SteinbergJonathan Steinberg is the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Modern European History and former Chair of the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his A. B. from Harvard University and his Ph.D...
, Bismarck: A Life (bio of BismarkBismarkBismark is a town in the Stendal district, in the historic Altmark region of northern Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated approx. west of Stendal....
) - John Stubbs, Reprobates: The Cavaliers of the English Civil War
2010
The winner was Barbara DemickBarbara Demick
Barbara Demick is an American journalist. She is currently Beijing bureau chief of the Los Angeles Times. She is the author of Logavina Street: Life and Death in a Sarajevo Neighborhood...
for Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
The longlist was announced 22 April 2010. The shortlist was announced May 26.
Shortlist
- Alex Bellos, Alex’s Adventures in Numberland:Dispatches from the Wonderful World of Mathematics
- Luke Jennings, Blood Knots: On Fathers, Friendship and Fishing
- Andrew Ross SorkinAndrew Ross SorkinAndrew Ross Sorkin is a Gerald Loeb Award-winning American journalist, author and television personality. He is a financial columnist for The New York Times and a co-anchor of CNBC's Squawk Box. He is also the founder and editor of DealBook, a financial news service published by The New York Times...
, Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System—and Themselves - Jenny UglowJenny UglowJennifer Sheila Uglow OBE is a British biographer, critic and publisher. The editorial director of Chatto & Windus, she has written critically acclaimed biographies of Elizabeth Gaskell, William Hogarth, Thomas Bewick and the Lunar Society, among others, and has also compiled a women's...
, A Gambling Man: Charles II and the Restoration - Richard WranghamRichard WranghamRichard W. Wrangham is a British primatologist. He is the Ruth Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University and his research group is now part of the newly established Department of Human Evolutionary Biology....
, Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us HumanCatching Fire: How Cooking Made Us HumanCatching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human is a book by British primatologist Richard Wrangham, published by Profile Books in England, and Basic Books in the USA. It argues the hypothesis that cooking food was an essential behavior in the evolution of human beings...
2009
The winner was Philip HoarePhilip Hoare
Philip Hoare is an English non-fiction writer and journalist. His 2008 book Leviathan won the 2009 Samuel Johnson Prize.-Bibliography:* Serious Pleasures: The Life of Stephen Tennant...
for Leviathan or, The Whale
The longlist was announced 14 May 2009. The shortlist was announced in late May. The judges announced the winner of the prize at an awards event at King's Place, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on 30 June. The monetary prize for 2009 was £20,000 for the winner, and each finalist receives £1000.
Shortlist
- Liaquat AhamedLiaquat AhamedLiaquat Ahamed is a Pulitzer-prize winning author and investment manager. He has worked at the World Bank in Washington D.C. and the New York-based partnership of Fischer, Francis, Trees and Watts, where he served as Chief Executive....
: Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the WorldLords of FinanceLords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World is a 2009 nonfiction book about events leading up to and culminating in the Great Depression as told through the personal histories of the heads of the Central Banks of the world's four major economies at the time: Benjamin Strong Jr... - Ben GoldacreBen GoldacreBen Michael Goldacre born 1974 is a British science writer, doctor and psychiatrist. He is the author of The Guardian newspaper's weekly Bad Science column and a book of the same title, published by Fourth Estate in September 2008....
: Bad ScienceBad Science (book)Bad Science is a book by Ben Goldacre, criticising mainstream media reporting on health and science issues. Published by Fourth Estate in September 2008, the book contains extended and revised versions of many of his Guardian columns... - David GrannDavid GrannDavid Grann is an American literary journalist and best-selling author. He has written about a range of subjects, from New York City's antiquated water supply system to the hunt for giant squid to the U.S...
: The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the AmazonThe Lost City of Z (book)The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon is a non-fiction book by American author David Grann. It tells the story of the legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett who, in 1925, disappeared with his son in the Amazon while looking for an ancient lost city. For decades, explorers... - Richard HolmesRichard Holmes (biographer)Richard Holmes, OBE, FRSL, FBA is a British author and academic best known for his biographical studies of major figures of British and French Romanticism.-Biography:...
: The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science - Manjit Kumar: Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate about the Nature of RealityQuantum (book)Quantum is a science history book written by Manjit Kumar. He describes Einstein, Bohr and the "Great Debate about the Nature of Reality" that played out over a number of years, particularly at the Fifth Solvay International Conference on Electrons and Photons in 1927...
2008
The winner was Kate SummerscaleKate Summerscale
Kate Summerscale is an award-winning English writer and journalist.She is the author of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House which won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction 2008, and the bestselling The Queen of Whale Cay, about Joe Carstairs, 'fastest woman on water',...
for The Suspicions of Mr Whicher Or The Murder at Road Hill House (about the Constance Kent case).
Shortlist
- Tim ButcherTim ButcherTim Butcher is an English journalist, broadcaster and best-selling author.Born in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, he was educated at Rugby School, and Magdalen College, Oxford University....
: Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart - Mark CockerMark CockerMark Cocker is a British author and naturalist. He lives and works deep in the Norfolk countryside with his wife Mary Muir and two daughters in claxton...
: Crow Country - Orlando FigesOrlando FigesOrlando Figes is a British historian of Russia, and Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London.-Overview:Figes is the son of the feminist writer Eva Figes. His sister is the author and editor Kate Figes. He attended William Ellis School in north London from 1971-78...
: The Whisperers - Patrick FrenchPatrick FrenchPatrick French is a British writer and historian, based in London. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh where he studied English and American literature....
: The World Is What It Is: The Authorised Biography of VS Naipaul - Alex Ross: The Rest is Noise
2007
The winner was Rajiv ChandrasekaranRajiv Chandrasekaran
Rajiv Chandrasekaran is an Indian-American journalist. He is currently the National Editor of The Washington Post, where he has worked since 1994...
for Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone
Imperial Life in the Emerald City
Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone is a 2006 book by Rajiv Chandrasekaran that takes a critical look at the civilian leadership of the American reconstruction project in Iraq...
Shortlist
- Ian BurumaIan BurumaBuruma is a nephew of the English film director John Schlesinger, a series of interviews with whom he published in book form.-Works:*The Japanese Tattoo with Donald Richie ISBN 978-0-8348-0228-5...
: Murder in Amsterdam - Peter Hennessey: Having it so Good: Britain in the Fifties
- Georgina Howell: Daughter of the Desert
- Dominic StreatfeildDominic StreatfeildDominic Streatfeild is an author, freelance journalist and documentary maker based in the UK who specialises in military and security issues.-Documentary Work:...
: Brainwash - Adrian TinniswoodAdrian TinniswoodAdrian Tinniswood is an English writer and historian.-Life:He studied English and Philosophy at Southampton University and was awarded an MPhil at Leicester University...
: The Verneys
2006
The winner was James S. ShapiroJames S. Shapiro
James S. Shapiro is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University who specialises in Shakespeare and the Early Modern period...
for 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare
Shortlist
- Alan BennettAlan BennettAlan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research mediaeval history at the university for several years...
Untold Stories - Jerry Brotton The Sale of the Late King's Goods
- Carmen CallilCarmen CallilCarmen Thérèse Callil is a publisher, writer and critic. She founded Virago Press in 1973.-Life:Callil was born in Melbourne Australia, but has lived in London since 1960. Her mother Lorraine Clare Allen, widowed in her early forties, raised four children of whom Carmen was the third...
Bad Faith - Tony JudtTony JudtTony Robert Judt FBA was a British historian, essayist, and university professor who specialized in European history. Judt moved to New York and served as the Erich Maria Remarque Professor in European Studies at New York University, and Director of NYU's Erich Maria Remarque Institute...
Post War - Tom ReissTom ReissTom Reiss is an American author and journalist who lives in New York City. He has written for The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times...
The Orientalist
2005
The winner was Jonathan CoeJonathan Coe
Jonathan Coe is an English novelist and writer. His work has an underlying preoccupation with political issues, although this serious engagement is often expressed comically in the form of satire. For example, What a Carve Up! reworks the plot of an old 1960s spoof horror film of the same name...
for Like A Fiery Elephant: The Story of B. S. Johnson (about B. S. Johnson
B. S. Johnson
B. S. Johnson was an English experimental novelist, poet, literary critic, producer of television programmes and film-maker.-Biography:...
)
Shortlist
- Alexander MastersAlexander MastersAlexander Masters is an author, screenwriter, and worker with the homeless. He lives in Cambridge, United Kingdom.Masters is the son of authors Dexter Masters and Joan Brady. He was educated at Bedales School, and took a first in physics from King's College London...
Stuart: A Life Backwards - Suketu MehtaSuketu MehtaSuketu Mehta is a writer based in New York City. He was born in Kolkata, India, and raised in Bombay where he lived until his family moved to the New York area in 1977. He has attended New York University and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.His autobiographical account of his experiences...
Maximum CityMaximum CityMaximum City: Bombay Lost and Found is a narrative nonfiction book by Suketu Mehta, published in 2004, about the Indian city of Mumbai . It was published in hardcover by Random House's Alfred A. Knopf imprint... - Orhan PamukOrhan PamukFerit Orhan Pamuk , generally known simply as Orhan Pamuk, is a Turkish novelist. He is also the Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where he teaches comparative literature and writing....
Istanbul - Hilary SpurlingHilary SpurlingHilary Spurling, CBE, FRSL is a British writer, known as a journalist and biographer. She won the Whitbread Prize for the second volume of her biography of Henri Matisse in January 2006...
Matisse the Master - Sarah Wise The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave-Robbery in 1830s London
2004
The winner was Anna FunderAnna Funder
Anna Funder is an Australian writer who grew up in Melbourne. She studied creative writing at the University of Melbourne, also later studying at the Free University of Berlin as the recipient in 1994 of a DAAD Scholarship...
for Stasiland
Stasiland
Stasiland: Oh Wasn't it so Terrible - True Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall Stasiland: Oh Wasn't it so Terrible - True Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall Stasiland: Oh Wasn't it so Terrible - True Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall (Stasiland: Ach, war es nicht so schrecklich - Wahre...
Shortlist
- Anne ApplebaumAnne ApplebaumAnne Elizabeth Applebaum is a journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author who has written extensively about communism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. She has been an editor at The Economist, and a member of the editorial board of The Washington Post...
Gulag: A History of the Soviet CampsGulag: A HistoryGulag: A History, also published as Gulag: A History of the Soviet Camps, is a non-fiction book covering the history of the Soviet Gulag system. It was written by American author Anne Applebaum and published in 2003 by Doubleday. Gulag won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction and the... - Jonathan BateJonathan BateJonathan Bate CBE FBA FRSL is a British academic, biographer, critic, broadcaster, novelist and scholar of Shakespeare, Romanticism and Ecocriticism...
John Clare: A Biography - Bill BrysonBill BrysonWilliam McGuire "Bill" Bryson, OBE, is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on science. Born an American, he was a resident of Britain for most of his adult life before moving back to the US in 1995...
A Short History of Nearly EverythingA Short History of Nearly EverythingA Short History of Nearly Everything is a popular science book by American author Bill Bryson that explains some areas of science, using a style of language which aims to be more accessible to the general public than many other books dedicated to the subject... - Aidan HartleyAidan HartleyAidan Hartley is a Kenyan journalist.Hartley was born in Nairobi in 1965. From age 7-12 he attended Ravenswood School, a boarding school near Tiverton in Devon, England...
The Zanzibar Chest: A Memoir of Love and War - Tom HollandTom Holland (author)-Biography:Holland was born near Oxford and brought up in the village of Broadchalke near Salisbury, England. His younger brother is the historian and novelist James Holland...
Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic
2003
The winner was T. J. BinyonT. J. Binyon
Timothy John Binyon was an English scholar and crime writer. He was a distant relative of the poet, Laurence Binyon....
for Pushkin
Shortlist
- Orlando FigesOrlando FigesOrlando Figes is a British historian of Russia, and Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London.-Overview:Figes is the son of the feminist writer Eva Figes. His sister is the author and editor Kate Figes. He attended William Ellis School in north London from 1971-78...
, Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia - Aminatta FornaAminatta FornaAminatta Forna is a British writer of Sierra Leonean and Scottish heritage. She is the author of a memoir, The Devil that Danced on the Water and two novels, Ancestor Stones and The Memory of Love...
, The Devil that Danced on the Water: A Daughter's Memoir of her Father, her Family, her Country and a Continent - Olivia JudsonOlivia JudsonDoctor Olivia P. Judson is an evolutionary biologist and science writer.- Career :Judson, who is the daughter of science historian Horace Freeland Judson,was a pupil of W.D. Hamilton....
, Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All CreationDr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All CreationDr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation: The Definitive Guide to the Evolutionary Biology of Sex is a 2002 popular science book by the British evolutionary biologist Olivia Judson written in the role of her alter ego, agony aunt Dr Tatiana.... - Claire TomalinClaire TomalinClaire Tomalin is an English biographer and journalist. She was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge.She was literary editor of the New Statesman and of the Sunday Times, and has written several noted biographies...
, Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self - Edgar VincentEdgar VincentEdgar Vincent was an American publicist and actor of German birth. He began his career appearing in small roles in Hollywood films during the 1940s but his German accent prevented him from moving further with his career. In 1949 he joined a New York publishing firm with his first client being the...
, Nelson: Love and Fame
2002
The winner was Margaret MacMillanMargaret MacMillan
Margaret Olwen MacMillan, OC is a historian and professor at the University of Oxford, where she is Warden of St. Antony's College. She is former provost of Trinity College and professor of history at the University of Toronto and previously, at Ryerson University...
for Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War
Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War
Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War is a historical narrative based on the events of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. It was written by the Canadian historian Margaret MacMillan with a foreword by American diplomat Richard Holbrooke...
Shortlist
- Eamon DuffyEamon DuffyEamon Duffy is an Irish Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Cambridge, and former President of Magdalene College....
, The Voices of Morebath - William FiennesWilliam Fiennes (author)William Fiennes is a British author.Fiennes was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford, Eton College, and Oxford University, where he received both undergraduate and graduate degrees...
, The Snow Geese - Richard Hamblyn, The Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies
- Roy JenkinsRoy JenkinsRoy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead OM, PC was a British politician.The son of a Welsh coal miner who later became a union official and Labour MP, Roy Jenkins served with distinction in World War II. Elected to Parliament as a Labour member in 1948, he served in several major posts in...
, Churchill: a Biography - Brendan SimmsBrendan SimmsBrendan Peter Simms, Ph.D is Professor of the History of International Relations in the Centre of International Studies at the University of Cambridge. Simms, a Newton-Sheehy Teaching Fellow, completed his doctoral dissertation, Anglo-Prussian relations, 1804-1806: The Napoleonic Threat, at...
, Unfinest Hour: Britain and the Destruction of Bosnia
2001
The winner was Michael BurleighMichael Burleigh
Michael Burleigh is a British author and historian.In 1977 he was awarded a first class honours degree in Medieval and Modern History from University College London, winning the Pollard, Dolley and Sir William Mayer prizes...
for The Third Reich
Shortlist
- Richard ForteyRichard ForteyRichard A. Fortey FRS is a British palaeontologist and writer.-Career:Richard Fortey studied geology at the University of Cambridge and had a long career as a palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum in London. Prof. Fortey’s research interests include, above all, trilobites...
, Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution - Catherine Merridale, Night of Stone
- Graham RobbGraham RobbGraham Macdonald Robb FRSL is a British author.Robb was born in Manchester and educated at the Royal Grammar School Worcester and Exeter College, Oxford, where he studied Modern Languages...
, Rimbaud - Simon Sebag MontefioreSimon Sebag MontefioreSimon Jonathan Sebag Montefiore is a British historian and writer.-Family history:Simon's father, a doctor, is descended from a famous line of wealthy Sephardic Jews who became diplomats and bankers all over Europe...
, Prince of Princes: The Life of Potemkin - Robert Skidelsky, John Maynard Keynes
2000
The winner was David CairnsDavid Cairns (writer)
David Cairns is a British journalist, non-fiction writer and musician. He is a leading authority on the life of Berlioz.-Biography:...
for Berlioz: Volume 2
Shortlist
- Tony HawksTony HawksAntony Gordon Hawksworth, better known as Tony Hawks, is a British comedian and author.-Early life:Born in Brighton in 1960, Hawks was educated at Brighton Hove and Sussex Grammar School and Brighton College...
, Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Brenda MaddoxBrenda MaddoxBrenda Maddox FRSL is an American author, journalist, and biographer, who has lived in the UK since 1959.Born in Brockton, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, she graduated from Harvard University with a degree in English literature and also studied at the London School of Economics...
, Yeats's Ghosts - Matt RidleyMatt RidleyMatthew White Ridley, FRSL, FMedSci is an English journalist, writer, biologist, and businessman.-Career:...
, GenomeGenome (book)Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters is a 1999 popular science book by Matt Ridley, published by Fourth Estate.The book devotes one chapter to each pair of human chromosomes. Since one chapter is required to discuss the sex chromosomes, the final chapter is number 22... - William ShawcrossWilliam ShawcrossWilliam Hartley Hume Shawcross, CVO is a British writer and commentator.-Career:Shawcross was educated at St. Aubyns Preparatory School, Rottingdean, Eton College and University College, Oxford. He attended St. Martin's Art School to study sculpture after leaving Oxford. He worked as a journalist...
, Deliver Us From Evil - Francis WheenFrancis WheenFrancis James Baird Wheen is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster.-Early life and education:Wheen was born into an army family and educated at two independent schools: Copthorne Preparatory School near Crawley, West Sussex and Harrow School in north west London.-Life and career:Running...
, Karl Marx
1999
The winner was Antony BeevorAntony Beevor
Antony James Beevor, FRSL is a British historian, educated at Winchester College and Sandhurst. He studied under the famous military historian John Keegan. Beevor is a former officer with the 11th Hussars who served in England and Germany for five years before resigning his commission...
for Stalingrad
Stalingrad (book)
Written by Antony Beevor, Stalingrad is a narrative history of the epic battle fought in and around the city of Stalingrad during World War II, as well as the events leading up to it and those which occurred after...
Shortlist
- Ian KershawIan KershawSir Ian Kershaw is a British historian of 20th-century Germany whose work has chiefly focused on the period of the Third Reich...
, Hitler - Ann Wroe, Pilate
- John DiamondJohn Diamond (journalist)John Diamond was a British broadcaster and journalist.- Education and training :Diamond was the son of a biochemist and a fashion designer. He grew up in Upper Clapton and Woodford Green, he then attended the City of London School and trained as an English teacher at Trent Park College of...
, C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too - Richard Holmes, Coleridge: Darker Reflections
- David LandesDavid LandesDavid S. Landes is a professor emeritus of economics at Harvard University and retired professor of history at George Washington University. He is the author of Revolution in Time, The Unbound Prometheus, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, and Dynasties...
, The Wealth and Poverty of NationsThe Wealth and Poverty of NationsThe Wealth and Poverty of Nations , published in 1998 , is a book by David Landes, currently Emeritus Professor of Economics and former Coolidge Professor of History at Harvard University...
See also
- English literatureEnglish literatureEnglish literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
- British literatureBritish literatureBritish Literature refers to literature associated with the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. By far the largest part of British literature is written in the English language, but there are bodies of written works in Latin, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Scots, Cornish, Manx, Jèrriais,...
- List of years in literature
- List of prizes
- Prizes named after peoplePrizes named after peopleThis is a list of prizes that are named after people.For other lists of eponyms see Lists of etymologies.* Ansari X Prize - Anousheh Ansari, Amir Ansari* Prince of Asturias Awards - Felipe, Prince of Asturias-A:...
External links
- Previous Winners of the Samuel Johnson prize. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
- The Samuel Johnson Prize 2010 Shortlist Retrieved 13 October 2010.
- Samuel Johnson Prize Homepage Retrieved 13 October 2010.