The Orwell Foundation announced the finalists for its Orwell Prizes, with 17 books in contention for the awards given annually to outstanding works of political writing.
In the political writing category, which honors works of nonfiction, Nathan Thrall made the shortlist for A Day in the Life of Abed Salama; earlier this month the book won the Pulitzer Prize. Steve Coll was named a finalist for The Achilles Trap, as was Cat Bohannon for Eve.
Also named nonfiction finalists were Daniel Finkelstein for Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad (published in the U.S. as Two Roads Home); Matthew Longo for The Picnic; Jason Okundaye for Revolutionary Acts; Alpa Shah for The Incarcerations; Lyndsey Stonebridge for We Are Free To Change the World; and Yaroslav Trofimov for Our Enemies Will Vanish.
Justin Torres made the fiction shortlist for his National Book Award–winning Blackouts, alongside Percival Everett for James and Megan Nolan for Ordinary Human Failings.
The other fiction finalists were Merle Collins for Ocean Stirrings, Samantha Harvey for Orbital, Hisham Matar for My Friends, Andrew O’Hagan for Caledonian Road, and Adam Thirlwell for The Future Future.
The Orwell Prizes, named in honor of the author of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, were established in 1994, splitting into fiction and nonfiction categories in 2019. Past winners include Patrick Radden Keefe for Say Nothingand Colson Whitehead for The Nickel Boys.
The winners of this year’s awards will be announced at a ceremony in London in late June.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
