By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
A Winner Is To Be Named on November 27
Today’s announcement of the English PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize shortlist is being called “compelling, impressive, and expansive,” in highlighting “the vitality of historical writing,” particularly in the “diversity of subjects and perspectives it can uncover.”
The award’s focus is on historical nonfiction covering “a period up to and including World War II. The prize was endowed by the eponymous Marjorie Hessell-Tiltman, who was an English PEN member i the 1960s and 1970. At the time of her death, she bequeathed £100,000 (US$126,594) to PEN’s literary foundation to create this award.
One distinction of this program is that its preferred nonfiction candidates are not written primarily for the academic market, but for the broader reading public.
The winner is to receive £2,000 (US$2,531), and the ceremony is set to be held at London’s October Gallery on November 27. For readers who are in the London area , information on attending the award event is here.
Last year’s winner of the Hessell-Tiltman was Philippe Sands’ The Last Colony: A Tale of Exile, Justice and Britain’s Colonial Legacy (Hachette UK/Weidenfeld and Nicolson).
This year’s jury panel comprises:
- Sharmilla Beezmohun (chair)
- Clare Anderson
- Venetia Porter
The 2024 English PEN Hessell-Tiltman Shortlist
- Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe by Caroline Dodds Pennock (Hachette UK/Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
- Backbone of the Nation: Mining Communities and the Great Strike of 1984–1985 by Robert Gildea (Yale University Press)
- Beyond the Wall: East Germany 1949–1990 by Katja Hoyer (Penguin Random House/Allen Lane)
- Sea of Troubles: The European Conquest of the Islamic Mediterranean and the Origins of the First World War by Ian Rutledge (Saqi Books)
- Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew by Avi Shlaim (Oneworld)
- The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis by Maria Smilios (Hachette UK/Virago)
In a comment on this year’s shortlist in this annual award in the English PEN portfolio, the organization’s events and prizes manager Zoe Sadler is quoted, saying, “This year’s shortlist is compelling, impressive and expansive, highlighting the power and vitality of historical writing and the important diversity of subjects and perspectives that it can uncover.
“We’re grateful to all the authors highlighted for their curiosity, rigorous research and illuminating writing.”
More from Publishing Perspectives on book and publishing awards programs is here; more on nonfiction work is here; and more on the United Kingdom’s market is here.