Kei Miller, Kojo Koram, and Natasha Brown are on the shortlists for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2022 announcement today, May 18, 2021.
The Orwell Prizes, named in honour of English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic George Orwell, are the UK’s most prestigious prizes for political writing. The Orwell Foundation annually awards prizes for work that comes closest to George Orwell’s ambition ‘to make political writing into an art’. Starting in 1994, winners of the Orwell Prize were recognised in the categories of political writing and journalism.
In 2018, The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction was launched and awarded in June 2019. Novuyo Rosa Tshuma and Diana Evans made the shortlist in that first year while Colson Whitehead won it in 2020.
The shortlists for the award have been announced today. Here are the writers of African descent in the running for the award.
Political Writing Book Prize
Judges: David Edgerton (chair), Stephen Bush, Isabel Hardman, and Kennetta Hammond Perry
- Kei Miller, Things I Have Withheld
- Kojo Koram, Britain and The Aftermath of Empire
Political Fiction Book Prize
Judges: Adam Roberts (chair), Dennis Duncan, Sana Goyal, and Monique Roffey
- Natasha Brown, Assembly
The winners will be announced on June 25 (George Orwell’s birthday).
