Baillie Gifford Prize

Tune into the special shortlist episode of the Read Smart podcast, which features the Baillie Gifford Prize live event from Cheltenham Literature Festival last Sunday. Hear Chair of Judges Frederick Studemann speak to last year’s winner, Katherine Rundell, about her fascination for the electric life and work of poet John Donne, alongside the moment the six books on this year’s shortlist were revealed.

Listen now to hear all about it. The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. For more podcasts from The Baillie Gifford Prize, click here. Follow @BGPrize on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube.

The winner will be announced on Thursday 16 November at an award ceremony at the Science Museum, generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The announcement will also be livestreamed across the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction social channels.

Tune into the latest episode of the Read Smart podcast, where two of our judges – Arifa Akbar and Ruth Scurr – will be delving into the 2023 longlist with our host, Razia Iqbal. Spanning the complex themes of war, memory, revolution and science, this year’s longlist illuminates a myriad of historical topics, bringing to life forgotten stories that address the most urgent concerns for our future.

Listen now to hear all about it. The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. For more podcasts from The Baillie Gifford Prize, click here. Follow @BGPrize on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube.

The announcement of the six books shortlisted for this year’s prize will take place on Sunday 8 October in a live event at Cheltenham Literature Festival.

The winner will be announced on Thursday 16 November at an award ceremony at the Science Museum, generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The announcement will also be livestreamed across the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction social channels.

The latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast is dedicated to our Winner of Winners, James Shapiro, who won our 25th anniversary award two weeks ago today with 1599: A Year In the Life of William Shakespeare. Listen to Shapiro and Iqbal discuss the literary canon, the cultural significance of Shakespeare’s plays and the Bard’s influence on contemporary politics.

Listen now to hear all about it. The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. For more podcasts from The Baillie Gifford Prize, click here. Follow @BGPrize on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube.

If you’d like to hear more from James Shapiro, be sure to buy tickets for this event at Hay Festival on Wednesday 31 May to hear him in conversation with #BGPrize25 judge, Sarah Churchwell. Buy your tickets here: https://www.hayfestival.com/p-20481-james-shapiro-talks-to-sarah-churchwell.aspx?fbclid=IwAR08xm9H9X7iIgZ1HUYr-IvasUS1u_azUMEjYW7mTigPmwQqCDf3iEjueYk

The latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast features Prize Director Toby Mundy speaking to Patrick Radden Keefe, who won the prize in 2021 with Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty. Radden Keefe and Mundy together explore the dark and murky methods of the Sackler family, as well as the consequences of the crisis that are still seen in America today. Detailing the story of 21st century greed, the book explores the family’s creation and marketing of Oxycontin, a painkiller that was a catalyst for the opioid crisis that nearly killed half a million people.

Listen now to hear all about it. The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. For more podcasts from The Baillie Gifford Prize, click here. Follow @BGPrize on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube.

The winner of the award will be announced on Thursday 27 April at an event held at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast features Razia Iqbal speaking to Margaret MacMillan, author of Paris 1919, formerly titled Peacemakers, about how the book casts a new light on the negotiations that influenced the modern world. As the first woman to ever win the Baillie Gifford Prize in 2002, MacMillan explores the fascinating figures behind the peace process and what could have been done differently to avert World War Two.

Listen now to hear all about it. The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. For more podcasts from The Baillie Gifford Prize, click here. Follow @BGPrize on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube.

If you’ve found hearing about the six books interesting, be sure to come along to Cambridge Literary Festival at 6pm on 23rd April to hear three of our shortlisted #WinnerofWinners authors - Barbara Demick, Craig Brown and Patrick Radden Keefe – delve into their previously winning books and how they are feeling about making the shortlist. Click this link to buy tickets to the Cambridge Event: https://www.cambridgeliteraryfestival.com/events/baillie-gifford-prize-winner-of-winners/

The winner of the award will be announced on Thursday 27 April at an event held at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast features host Razia Iqbal speaking to Wade Davis, 2012 winner of The Baillie Gifford Prize, about Into The Silence, a book delving into the psychological aftermath of the First World War and mountaineer George Mallory’s fatal expedition to Mount Everest. The Guardian has praised Davis’ work, highlighting how the “tried and tested narrative routes are guaranteed to keep the reader roped closely to the page.” Davis and Iqbal discuss not only the character of Mallory, but crucially why he kept climbing on that fateful day.

Listen now to hear all about it. The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. For more podcasts from The Baillie Gifford Prize, click here. Follow @BGPrize on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube.

The latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast continues our Winner of Winners series, where each of the shortlisted authors are interviewed.

This week, host Razia Iqbal will be speaking to James Shapiro, who won the prize in 2006 with 1599: A Year In The Life of William Shakespeare. Iqbal and Shapiro explore life in Elizabethan England, how Shakespeare managed to produce four great works (including Hamlet) in just one year and why the rumours that Shakespeare was in fact more than one person are false. Hear more to find out how and why Shakespeare become one of the greatest writers who ever lived.

Listen now to hear all about it. The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. For more podcasts from The Baillie Gifford Prize, click here. Follow @BGPrize on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube.

If you’ve found hearing about the six novels interesting, be sure to come along to Cambridge Literary Festival at 6pm on 23rd April to hear three of our shortlisted #WinnerofWinners authors - Barbara Demick, Craig Brown and Patrick Radden Keefe – delve into their previously winning books and how they are feeling about making the shortlist. Click this link to buy tickets to the Cambridge Event: https://www.cambridgeliteraryfestival.com/events/baillie-gifford-prize-winner-of-winners/

The winner of the award will be announced on Thursday 27 April at an event held at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast features host Razia Iqbal speaking to Craig Brown about his book One, Two, Three, Four: The Beatles in Time, which won the Baillie Gifford Prize in 2020.

Brown’s book has been described by The Guardian as “not a biography so much as a group portrait in vignettes, a rearrangement of stories and legends whose trick is to make The Beatles gleam anew.” One Two Three Four is a kaleidoscopic and unique exploration of the timeless band. In the podcast, the originality of the book is explored, alongside how Brown feels ahead of the winner announcement.

Listen now to hear all about it. The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. For more podcasts from The Baillie Gifford Prize, click here. Follow @BGPrize on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube.

Craig Brown will be appearing live at 6pm on 23rd April at Cambridge Literary Festival alongside two other shortlisted #WinnerofWinners authors - Barbara Demick and Patrick Radden Keefe. Click this link to buy tickets to the Cambridge Event: https://www.cambridgeliteraryfestival.com/events/baillie-gifford-prize-winner-of-winners/

The winner of the award will be announced on Thursday 27 April at an event held at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast kicks off the first of our special Winners of Winners episodes, in which each of the shortlisted authors will be interviewed.

This week, host Razia Iqbal will be speaking to Barbara Demick, who won the Prize in 2010 with Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea. In the book, Demick weaves together the stories of resilience between six residents of Chongin, North Korea's third-largest city. From extensive interviews and investigative work, Barbara Demick recreates the culture and concerns of North Korean citizens within this extraordinarily secret country.

The winner of the award will be announced on Thursday 27 April at an event held at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Listen now to hear all about it. The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. For more podcasts from The Baillie Gifford Prize, click here. Follow @BGPrize on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube.

On 9th March, the Baillie Gifford Prize announced the shortlist for its 25th anniversary Winner of Winners award, which will go to the book the judges think is the best of the previous winners of the Prize.

Listen in as host Razia Iqbal talks to judges Jason Cowley and Sarah Churchwell about which books they chose, and what the process has been like so far.

If this episode has piqued your interest, tune in over the next few months, when Razia will be talking to each of the shortlisted authors about how it feels to be selected for such a prestigious award, and how winning the Prize in the first place has changed their lives.

The Winner of Winners will be announced at an event at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh on the 27th April.

This podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. For more podcasts from The Baillie Gifford Prize, visit our website. Follow @BGPrize on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube.