The Orwell Prize is Britain’s most prestigious prize for political writing. It is awarded each year for the book which come closest to George Orwell’s ambition to ‘make political writing into an art’.

Samar Yazbek is on the Orwell’s long list with her book on Syria, The Crossing. The winner will be announced end of May.

 

Below is the list of the long listed titles:

Andy Beckett, Promised you a Miracle: UK80 – 82 (Allen Lane)

Jason Burke, The New Threat from Islamic Militancy (Bodley Head)

Thomas Harding, The House by the Lake (William Heinemann)

Sudhir Hazareesingh, How the French Think (Allen Lane)

Steve Hilton, More Human (WH Allen)

John Kay, Other People’s Money (Profile Books)

Ferdinand Mount, The Tears of the Rajas (Simon and Schuster)

Arkady Ostrovsky, The Invention of Russia (Atlantic Books)

Emma Sky, The Unravelling (Atlantic Books)

Anne-Marie Slaughter, Unfinished Business (Oneworld Publications)

Wendell Steavenson, Circling the Square (Granta Books)

Gillian Tett, The Silo Effect (Little, Brown)

Samar Yazbek, The Crossing (Rider)