Posted on September 12, 2019 at 4:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
An author serving a life sentence in jail has made a nonfiction award longlist.
Turkish writer Ahmet Altan was imprisoned in 2016 and received a life sentence in 2018 for his alleged support of a coup.
PEN America and several other authors have called for Altan’s release and accused Turkey of jailing him for his criticism of the government, not any insurrection efforts, according to the Guardian.
Altan’s longlisted book, I Will Never See the World Again, is a prison memoir written via notes to his lawyers.
Other nominees for the Baillie Gifford Prize and its £50,000 (about $62,000) purse:
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Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee, by Casey Cep.
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On Chapel Sands, by Laura Cumming.
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The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company, by William Dalrymple.
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Homesick: Why I Live in a Shed, by Catrina Davies.
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The Lives of Lucian Freud: Youth, by William Feaver.
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The Windrush Betrayal: Exposing the Hostile Environment, by Amelia Gentleman.
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Maoism: A Global History, by Julia Lovell.
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The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell’s 1984, by Dorian Lynskey.
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Guest House for Young Widows, by Azadeh Moaveni.
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The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper, by Hallie Rubenhold.
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The Outlaw Ocean, by Ian Urbina.
Also in award news, we have a winner for the National Book Foundation’s 2019 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
Edmund White will receive that honor this fall to honor his long and varied career, known best for his portrayals of gay American life in both fiction and nonfiction.
You can read more about White’s accomplishments and see praise for his contributions on the National Book Foundation’s website.
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Categories: Today in Books