Baillie Gifford Prize

Listen to the latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast to discover more about the Prize’s history, and how the wider world of non-fiction has changed in the 25 years since it was first established.

In this episode, former Baillie Gifford judge Razia Iqbal talks to Caroline Sanderson and Andrew Holgate, both of whom have chaired judging panels for the Prize, about what the experience is like and how the Prize has evolved.

For those of you who enjoyed learning about the history of the Prize, we’ve made a 30 minute documentary featuring interviews with some of the founders of the prize, as well as the winners and judges of recent years.

Tune in next time where we’ll be talking to some of the judges of the Winner of Winners award about their shortlist. The Winner of Winners award, created to celebrate the Prize’s 25th anniversary, will pit the previous winners against each other to find the best of the best of non-fiction. The shortlist will be announced on Thursday 9 March, and the winner 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, click here. Follow @BGPrize on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube.

Make sure you tune into the latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast, which explores what life is like in dictatorships across the world and throughout history.

Our host Razia Iqbal will be joined by three former winners of the prize; Historian Michael Burleigh, journalist Barbara Demick and historian Frank Dikötter. They delve into the fascinatingly complex definitions and qualities behind the term ‘dictator’, as well as the role that secrecy and terror plays in countries living under authoritarian rule.

As we continue to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Baillie Gifford Prize, keep an eye out for more special episodes of The Read Smart podcast, where faces from the prize’s past will be returning to give their insight on more fascinating topics. We will also be sharing special episodes dedicated to the authors shortlisted for our Winner of Winners competition, which is being judged by Chair Jason Cowley, Shahidha Bari, Sarah Churchwell and Frances Wilson.

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.

Tune into the final Read Smart podcast episode of the year, where 2022 prize winner Katherine Rundell discusses her book Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne and how she feels following the announcement. Our host Razia Iqbal also speaks to some of the other guests at the awards ceremony, including former judge Sara Collins, last year’s chair of judges Andrew Holgate and Margaret Busby.

The winner was livestreamed on FacebookLive and YouTube at a  gala dinner generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation on Thursday 17 November.

Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne gives readers a glimpse into the tempestuous life of poet John Donne. Sometime religious outsider and social disaster, sometime celebrity preacher and establishment darling, John Donne was incapable of being just one thing. Described by Rundell as being perhaps the greatest love poet in the history of the English language, the work provides a fascinating insight into Donne's multi-layered existence. 

 

Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne was chosen by this year’s judging panel: writer and Associate Editor of The Bookseller, Caroline Sanderson (chair); writer and science journalist, Laura Spinney; critic and writer for The Observer, Rachel Cooke; BBC journalist and presenter, Clive Myrie; author and New Yorker writer, Samanth Subramanian; and critic and broadcaster, Georgina Godwin.

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.

Join Toby Mundy, director of the Baillie Gifford Prize and Caroline Elkins, author of the shortlisted book ‘Legacy of Violence’, for their discussion on how the British Empire used liberal rhetoric to justify repeated violence against its colonies.

Listen in to Read Smart to hear all about how Caroline and a team of researchers uncovered this hidden history, and how the Empire’s legalised violence in order to retain control.

To learn more about the shortlist, join Toby as he talks to each of the shortlisted authors about their work and what it’s like to make the shortlist. Also join us on our social media channels where you we’ll be sharing trailers for each of the shortlist, including readings by the authors and appearances from some familiar faces explaining why they love these books.

The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation.

This year’s winner will be announced on 17 November at the Science Museum at a gala dinner generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The announcement will also be livestreamed across the Baillie Gifford Prize social channels.

Don't miss the winner of the 2022 prize being interviewed at the Cambridge Literary Festival on Sunday 20 November this year.

Follow @BGPrize and #BGPrize2022 on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube to stay up to date.

Discover the Baillie Gifford Prize shortlist Toby Mundy, the prize’s director and Jonathan Freedland, author of ‘The Escape Artist’, which tells the story of Rudolph Vrba, who escaped Auschwitz to warn the world about the horrors of the Holocaust, saving thousands of lives.

Tune in to hear what drew Jonathan to Vrba’s story in the first place, and why it’s important we allow survivors to be flawed.

If you want to know more about the books on the shortlist, then join the Baillie Gifford Prize’s director, Toby Mundy on the podcast over the next few weeks. Toby will be talking to each of the shortlisted authors about their work and what it’s like to make the shortlist. You can join us on our social media channels where we’ll be sharing trailers for each of the shortlist, including author readings and appearances from some familiar faces.

The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation.

This year’s winner will be announced on 17 November at the Science Museum at a gala dinner generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The announcement will also be livestreamed across the Baillie Gifford Prize social channels.

Don't miss the winner of the 2022 prize being interviewed at the Cambridge Literary Festival on Sunday 20 November this year.

Follow @BGPrize and #BGPrize2022 on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube to stay up to date.

Find out more about the Baillie Gifford Prize shortlist with director of the prize Toby Mundy and Polly Morland, author of ‘A Fortunate Woman’, who talks about the importance of the doctor/patient relationship and how she reinterpreted John Berger’s medical classic A Fortunate Man.

Tune in to hear how Polly was first inspired to write the book, and how the pandemic affected her research.

Over the next couple of weeks on Read Smart, Toby will be talking to each of the shortlisted authors about their books and how they feel to have made the shortlist. Also join us on our social media channels where you we’ll be sharing trailers for each of the shortlist, including readings by the authors and appearances from some familiar faces explaining why they love these books.

The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation.

This year’s winner will be announced on 17 November at the Science Museum at a gala dinner generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The announcement will also be livestreamed across the Baillie Gifford Prize social channels.

Don't miss the winner of the 2022 prize being interviewed at the Cambridge Literary Festival on Sunday 20 November this year.

Follow @BGPrize and #BGPrize2022 on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube to stay up to date.

Explore the Baillie Gifford Prize 2022 shortlist on Read Smart, as prize director Toby Mundy talks to Sally Hayden about her book ‘My Fourth Time, We Drowned’, and the role Europe plays in perpetuating the migrant crisis.

Listen now to hear how migrants are ending up in refugee camps in Libya, and the importance of using the correct language when describing their plight.

If you’re interested in learning more about the books on the shortlist, then join the Baillie Gifford Prize’s director, Toby Mundy on the podcast over the next few weeks. Toby will be talking to each of the shortlisted authors about their work and what it’s like to make the shortlist. Also join us on our social media channels where you we’ll be sharing trailers for each of the shortlist, including readings by the authors and appearances from some familiar faces explaining why they love these books.

The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation.

This year’s winner will be announced on 17 November at the Science Museum at a gala dinner generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The announcement will also be livestreamed across the Baillie Gifford Prize social channels.

Don't miss the winner of the 2022 prize being interviewed at the Cambridge Literary Festival on Sunday 20 November this year.

Follow @BGPrize and #BGPrize2022 on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube to stay up to date.

Dive into the Baillie Gifford Prize shortlist with director of the prize Toby Mundy and Anna Keay, author of ‘The Restless Republic’, who talks about providing new perspectives on the English civil war and its aftermath.

Listen now to hear all about the colourful cast of characters that populate the book, and why it’s so difficult to understand the mindset of the time.

If you’re interested in learning more about the books on the shortlist, then join the Baillie Gifford Prize’s director, Toby Mundy on the podcast over the next few weeks. Toby will be talking to each of the shortlisted authors about their work and what it’s like to make the shortlist. Also join us on our social media channels where you we’ll be sharing trailers for each of the shortlist, including readings by the authors and appearances from some familiar faces explaining why they love these books.

The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation.

This year’s winner will be announced on 17 November at the Science Museum at a gala dinner generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The announcement will also be livestreamed across the Baillie Gifford Prize social channels.

Don't miss the winner of the 2022 prize being interviewed at the Cambridge Literary Festival on Sunday 20 November this year.

Follow @BGPrize and #BGPrize2022 on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube to stay up to date.

Tune into the latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast, where our host and director of the Baillie Gifford Prize Toby Mundy, will be joined by Katherine Rundell, author of ‘Super Infinite’ to discuss why you should read about the extraordinary and tempestuous life of John Donne.

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’re interested in learning more about the books on the shortlist, then join the Baillie Gifford Prize’s director, Toby Mundy on the podcast over the next few weeks. Toby will be talking to each of the shortlisted authors about their work and what it’s like to make the shortlist. Also join us on our social media channels where you we’ll be sharing trailers for each of the shortlist, including readings by the authors and appearances from some familiar faces explaining why they love these books.

This year’s winner will be announced on 17 November at the Science Museum at an award ceremony generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The announcement will also be livestreamed across the Baillie Gifford Prize social channels.

Don't miss the winner of the 2022 prize being interviewed at the Cambridge Literary Festival on Sunday 20 November this year.

Tune into the latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast, where our host Razia Iqbal will be joined by two members of our judging panel, Rachel Cooke and Georgina Godwin, to discuss the six books which have made the 2022 shortlist. The judges will give their reasons for why these six books stood out from the rest of the longlist, alongside how they chose to go about making such a difficult decision.

The podcast also features the moment where Chair of Judges, Caroline Sanderson, announced the long-awaited shortlist live at Cheltenham Literature Festival. Not long to go now until we find out the winner.

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’re interested in learning more about the books on the shortlist, then join the Baillie Gifford Prize’s director, Toby Mundy on the podcast over the next few weeks. Toby will be talking to each of the shortlisted authors about their work and what it’s like to make the shortlist. Also join us on our social media channels where you we’ll be sharing trailers for each of the shortlist, including readings by the authors and appearances from some familiar faces explaining why they love these books.

This year’s winner will be announced on 17 November at the Science Museum at an award ceremony generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The announcement will also be livestreamed across the Baillie Gifford Prize social channels.

Don't miss the winner of the 2022 prize being interviewed at the Cambridge Literary Festival on Sunday 20 November this year.