May 21, 2020
July UPDATE: the 2020 winner is Colson Whitehead for The Nickel Boys!
Have you heard of the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction? If not, it's worth your time checking into an interesting array of titles, ones with serious political overtones. Only in existence for a year, the 2019 winner was Milkman by Anna Burns, a book that won the Booker, too.
The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction was started by George Orwell's son Richard Blair, and "will reward outstanding novels and collections of short stories first published in the UK that illuminate major social and political themes, present or past, through the art of narrative." Orwell himself said his wish was to make "political writing into an art".
A refreshing promotion of the political in fiction, wouldn't you say? New in a roster of Orwell prizes including The Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain's Social Evils, checkout their enlightening website for more good literature, after reading these shortlisted fictional works, and celebrate the resonance of Orwell's legacy: https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-prizes/
