BBC SAMUEL JOHNSON LONGLIST ANNOUNCED
Michael Holroyd’s first major biography in fifteen years on longlist up against Alain de Botton and Richard Holmes
The judges for the 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize announced the longlist today, 14 May. Michael Holroyd’s first biography in fifteen years, A Strange Eventful History: The Dramatic Lives of Ellen Terry, Henry Irving and Their Remarkable Familes, is a compelling family saga of two great theatrical families, which showcases the passions and triumphs of the Victorian stages to the artistic endeavours and sexual adventures of the modern age.
From a record number of entries, 166 in total, the 19 titles on the longlist range widely in interest and continue the prize’s reputation for highlighting diverse and thought-provoking books.
The list includes a dramatic history of Quantum theory; an honest memoir of a woman craving silence; an urgent and riveting account of bureaucrats, brothels and AIDS on the frontline of sex and drugs; and the story of the Wittgenstein family, one of the richest, most talented and most eccentric in European history.
Jacob Weisberg, one of America’s leading political journalists and commentators and chair of the judges, comments:
"The list released today is the fruit of a collective reading spree that I think I can say we've all enjoyed tremendously. All those included are distinguished, well-wrought books. Each has passionate advocates on our committee. I know how difficult it is going to be for us to whittle down to the short list over the next month."
Weisberg is joined on the panel by Dr Mark Lythgoe, neuroscientist at University College London and Director of the Cheltenham Science Festival; Tim Marlow, writer, broadcaster and art historian and director of exhibitions at White Cube; Munira Mirza, Director of Policy, Arts, Culture and the Creative Industries at the Mayor of London’s office; and Sarah Sands, Deputy Editor at the London Evening Standard.
The BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non Fiction Longlist 2009
Lords of Finance
Liaquat Ahamed
William Heinemann
Michael Holroyd’s first major biography in fifteen years on longlist up against Alain de Botton and Richard Holmes
The judges for the 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize announced the longlist today, 14 May. Michael Holroyd’s first biography in fifteen years, A Strange Eventful History: The Dramatic Lives of Ellen Terry, Henry Irving and Their Remarkable Familes, is a compelling family saga of two great theatrical families, which showcases the passions and triumphs of the Victorian stages to the artistic endeavours and sexual adventures of the modern age.
From a record number of entries, 166 in total, the 19 titles on the longlist range widely in interest and continue the prize’s reputation for highlighting diverse and thought-provoking books.
The list includes a dramatic history of Quantum theory; an honest memoir of a woman craving silence; an urgent and riveting account of bureaucrats, brothels and AIDS on the frontline of sex and drugs; and the story of the Wittgenstein family, one of the richest, most talented and most eccentric in European history.
Jacob Weisberg, one of America’s leading political journalists and commentators and chair of the judges, comments:
"The list released today is the fruit of a collective reading spree that I think I can say we've all enjoyed tremendously. All those included are distinguished, well-wrought books. Each has passionate advocates on our committee. I know how difficult it is going to be for us to whittle down to the short list over the next month."
Weisberg is joined on the panel by Dr Mark Lythgoe, neuroscientist at University College London and Director of the Cheltenham Science Festival; Tim Marlow, writer, broadcaster and art historian and director of exhibitions at White Cube; Munira Mirza, Director of Policy, Arts, Culture and the Creative Industries at the Mayor of London’s office; and Sarah Sands, Deputy Editor at the London Evening Standard.
The BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non Fiction Longlist 2009
Lords of Finance
Liaquat Ahamed
William Heinemann
Soul of the Age: The Life, Mind and World of William Shakespeare
Jonathan Bate
Viking
Pompeii
Mary Beard
Profile Books
Mary Beard
Profile Books
A Fork in the Road
Andre Brink
Harvill Secker
The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
Alain De Botton
Hamish Hamilton
Alain De Botton
Hamish Hamilton
Science: A Four Thousand Year History
Patricia Fara
Oxford University Press
Patricia Fara
Oxford University Press
Bad Science
Ben Goldacre
Fourth Estate
Ben Goldacre
Fourth Estate
The Lost City of Z
David Grann
Simon and Schuster
Leviathan
Philip Hoare
Fourth Estate
Philip Hoare
Fourth Estate
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science Richard Holmes
HarperPress
HarperPress
A Strange Eventful History: The Dramatic Lives of Ellen Terry, Henry Irving and their Remarkable Families
Michael Holroyd
Chatto & Windus
Michael Holroyd
Chatto & Windus
Darwin's Island
Steve Jones
Little, Brown
Steve Jones
Little, Brown
Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality
Manjit Kumar
Icon Books
Manjit Kumar
Icon Books
The Man Who Invented History
Julian Marozzi
John Murray
Hester: the Remarkable Life of Dr Johnson’s ‘Dear Mistress’
Ian McIntyre
Constable
A Book of Silence
Sara Maitland
Granta
Sara Maitland
Granta
Sissinghurst: An Unfinished History
Adam Nicolson
HarperPress
Adam Nicolson
HarperPress
The Wisdom of Whores
Elizabeth Pisani
Granta
The House of Wittgenstein
Alexander Waugh
Bloomsbury
The shortlist will be announced in late May. The judges will announce the winner of the prize at an awards event at King’s Place, London on 30 June. The prize is worth £20,000 to the winner.
BBC TWO will televise the awards ceremony on a Culture Show special at 11.20pm on 30 June.
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