Ostrovsky’s ‘Invention of Russia’ wins Orwell Prize

Russian-born British journalist Arkady Ostrovsky has won the 2016 Orwell Prize for his book The Invention of Russia (Atlantic Books), an account of Russia’s post-Soviet transformation from 1985 to the present day. The prize, worth £3000 (A$6102), is awarded annually to the best book of political writing that comes closest to George Orwell’s ambition ‘to make political writing into an art’. Chair of judges Lord William Waldegrave said Ostrovsky’s ‘deeply felt and wonderfully knowledgeable account of the genesis of Putin’s Russia stood out as an important and timely book’. ‘It is a very worthy winner of the Orwell Prize, dealing as it does with the themes of media manipulation and the control of language, which were very close to George Orwell’s own heart,’ he said. For more information about the award, click here.

Category: International news