Named in honour of writer-journalist George Orwell, the Orwell Prizes is one of the most prestigious prizes given for political writings in the UK. The winners of Orwell Prizes for political writing 2023 in various categories were announced at a ceremony in London on June 22. While Tom Crewe won the Orwell Prize for political fiction 2023 for his novel 'The New Life', journalist Peter Apps won the prize for political writing (non-fiction) for his book 'Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen'. Both the awards this year are won by debut writers, who will receive £3,000 each (INR 3,13,027) as the prize money.
The Orwell Prizes are given every year to the works, in different categories, which is closest to Orwell’s ambition "to make political writing into an art", as per their website.
Apps' book 'Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen' is a forensic account about the policy decisions that lead to the unfortunate Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 in which 72 people lost their lives. Praising the book, Martha Lane Fox- Chair of judges for Political Writing, said that 'Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen' “has the values of the Orwell prize at its core... It is beautiful writing about a devastating subject that we should all understand”.
Meanwhile, Crewe's historical fiction 'The New Life' tells the struggles that lead to the changes in Britain’s homosexuality laws in the 1890s. The characters in 'The New Life' are based on Havelock Ellis and John Addington Symonds, and they “are brought to vivid life by Crewe," Boyd Tonkin- Chair of Judes for Political Fiction, said. He also added that Crewe "writes about their social, intellectual and erotic lives with extraordinary verisimilitude,” reported The Guardian.
Meanwhile, the other winners of the Orwell Prizes 2023 include:
