Baillie Gifford Winner of Winners shortlist announced

In the UK, the shortlist for the Baillie Gifford Winner of Winners Award—being held to celebrate the prize’s 25th anniversary—has been announced, reports the Bookseller.

The annual award, originally known as the Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction, recognises the best work of nonfiction by authors of any nationality. The shortlist for the Winner of Winners award was chosen from the previous 24 award winners.

The shortlisted titles are:

• One Two Three Four: The Beatles in time (Craig Brown, Fourth Estate)
• Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the conquest of Everest (Wade Davis, The Bodley Head)
• Nothing to Envy: Real lives in North Korea (Barbara Demick, Granta)
• Empire of Pain: The secret history of the Sackler Dynasty (Patrick Radden Keefe, Doubleday)
• Paris 1919: Six months that changed the world (Margaret Macmillan, John Murray Press)
• 1599: A year in the life of William Shakespeare (James Shapiro, Faber & Faber).

Chair of judges Jason Cowley said: ‘We are delighted with the range and quality of our shortlist, which showcases the best of this great prize and features works of high ambition, formal innovation and originality—works of history, narrative-driven reportage, investigative journalism, and literary and cultural biography.’

The winner of the 25th anniversary prize will be announced on 27 April at an event held at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Category: Awards International news