Tuesday 9 September 2025 London: today, Tuesday 9 September, the British Academy reveals the shortlist for the British Academy Book Prize 2025. Now in its 13th year, the international prize, worth £25,000, rewards and celebrates writing grounded in high-quality research – works of non-fiction that will inspire readers to deepen their understanding of people, society and cultures across time and place. The judges of this year’s British Academy Book Prize have chosen a shortlist of six bold and original works by distinguished authors – all recognised authorities in their fields. Spanning a broad range of subjects from the global politics of women’s health to Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church, these books lead readers across continents and the pivotal moments in their history. Each title offers a new perspective on issues of global importance, united by rigorous research and a remarkable ability to tell powerful stories in an engaging and compelling way. The six books are (in alphabetical order by author surname): Chair of judges Professor Rebecca Earle, Fellow of the British Academy comments: “From over 230 entries our panel identified six for our shortlist. They cover topics from the West’s persistent misunderstanding of African economies, to the archaeology of […]

“A fascinating, captivating social history and contemporary linguistic account of New York City” Professor Charles Tripp, Chair of judges #BritishAcademyBookPrize @BritishAcademy_  Wednesday 23 October, LONDON: Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues by Ross Perlin was last night named as the winner of the 12th British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding. The announcement was made by Chair of judges, Professor Charles Tripp FBA, at a celebration at the British Academy.  Ross Perlin is a linguist and co-director of the Manhattan-based non-profit Endangered Language Alliance, an organisation dedicated to documenting endangered languages and supporting linguistic diversity. In Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues, Perlin writes engagingly of the history of migration into New York and of the languages and cultures that came to the city, overwhelming the Lenape speakers who were the original inhabitants of the territory. He brings this linguistic mix alive in the present by following the personal stories of six remarkable speakers of endangered languages to fully understand the resilience of their communities and the richness of their languages. Language City is not only a story about New York City, but about all great metropolises. It is one that has global resonance.  Ross Perlin is also the author of Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the […]

Tuesday 10 September 2024 “Six books that change the way we perceive our shared world” London: today, Tuesday 10 September, the British Academy reveals the shortlist for the British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding 2024. Now in its 12th year, the international book prize, worth £25,000, rewards and celebrates ground-breaking works of non-fiction that have made an outstanding contribution to the public understanding of world cultures and their interactions, and are grounded in rigorous and high-quality research. This year’s British Academy Book Prize judges have chosen a shortlist of six exceptional books from a record-breaking number of submissions. They are: Material World: A Substantial Story of Our Past and Future by Ed Conway  (WH Allen / Ebury Publishing / Penguin Random House) Smoke and Ashes: Opium’s Hidden Histories by Amitav Ghosh (John Murray / HarperCollins India) The Secret Lives of Numbers: A Global History of Mathematics & Its Unsung Trailblazers by Kate Kitagawa and Timothy Revell (Viking / Penguin Random House) The Tame and the Wild: People and Animals after 1492 by Marcy Norton (Harvard University Press) Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tonguesby Ross Perlin (Grove Press UK) Divided: Racism, Medicine and Why We Need to Decolonise Healthcareby Annabel Sowemimo (Profile Books / Wellcome Collection)  Chair of […]

‘The true origin story of Britain and India’ told through England’s first diplomatic mission to the Mughal courts BritishAcademyBookPrize @BritishAcademy_ Tuesday 31 October, LONDON: Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire by Nandini Das is today named as the winner of the 11th British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding. The announcement was made by Chair of the jury, Professor Charles Tripp FBA, at a celebration at the British Academy. In this remarkable debut, Nandini Das – Professor of Early Modern Literature and Culture in the English faculty at the University of Oxford – presents an important new perspective on the origins of empire through the story of the arrival of the first English ambassador in India, Sir Thomas Roe, in the early 17th century. The book recasts the story of Britain and India moving us beyond a Eurocentric telling, with an even-handed, entertaining tale of the encounter of two cultures and the ambitions, misunderstandings and prejudices that came to the fore. In this genuinely ground-breaking work, Indian-raised Das challenges our understanding of this pivotal pre-colonial period. Drawing on a rich variety of sources – literature, the memoirs of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir, the journals and […]

Tuesday 12 September 2023 London: today, Tuesday 12 September, the British Academy reveals the shortlist for the British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding (2023). Now in its 11th year, the international book prize, worth £25,000, rewards and celebrates ground-breaking research-based works of non-fiction that have made an outstanding contribution to the public understanding of world cultures and the ways in which they interconnect. This year’s esteemed jury of academics and journalists has chosen a shortlist of six exceptional books from almost 200 submissions, introducing readers to a wide range of globally significant topics: the invention of books and libraries in the ancient world; the early use of photography to document colonial conflict; the role of ritual in human civilisation; China’s Cultural Revolution; a retelling of the story of global emancipation; and the origins of empire in India. The six books on the 2023 shortlist, alphabetically by author surname, are: Red Memory: Living, Remembering and Forgetting China’s Cultural Revolution by Tania Branigan (Faber & Faber)Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire by Nandini Das (Bloomsbury Publishing)The Violence of Colonial Photography by Daniel Foliard (Manchester University Press)Black Ghost of Empire: The Long Death of Slavery and the […]

Friday 31 March 2023 Charlie Higson commissioned to write new James Bond adventure to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III Published 4 May 2023, in partnership with the National Literacy Trust LONDON. Charlie Higson, author of the bestselling Young Bond series, has been commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications to write a new James Bond adventure to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III, it is announced today, Friday 31 March. On His Majesty’s Secret Service will be published on Thursday 4 May ahead of the Coronation on Saturday 6 May – and 60 years after the publication of Ian Fleming’s tenth novel, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, in 1963. All royalties from the sale of the book will go to support the work of the UK charity, the National Literacy Trust. The action of this entirely new 007 adventure brings Bond into the present day.It is the4th of May, two days before the coronation of King Charles III and the world’s favourite spy has his work cut out for him. Bond is sent at the last minute to thwart an attempt to disrupt the Coronation by the wealthy, eccentric and self-styled Athelstan of Wessex, who is on a deadly […]

Wednesday 26 October, LONDON: When Women Kill: Four Crimes Retold by the Chilean writer Alia Trabucco Zerán is today named as the winner of the 10th British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding. The announcement was made by Chair of the jury, Patrick Wright FBA, at a celebration at the British Academy. Chosen from a shortlist of six works of non-fiction, When Women Kill: Four Crimes Retold, forensically examines four homicides committed by everyday Chilean women over the course of the 20th century. Taking these four cases in Chile as her starting point, Alia Trabucco Zerán introduces a wholly original and globally significant feminist perspective to the study of women murderers. It is translated by Sophie Hughes, and is published in the UK by independent press, And Other Stories. Alia Trabucco Zerán – whose debut novel The Remainder was shortlisted in 2019 for the Man Booker International Prize, and who originally trained as a lawyer – spent many years researching this outstanding work of creative non-fiction, expertly blending true crime writing with the art of the critical essay and investigative memoir. The result is a compelling narrative which not only explores the circumstances around the four killings ­­– so […]

For immediate releaseWednesday 5 October, 2022 “Never say ‘no’ to adventures. Always say ‘yes’, otherwise you’ll lead a very dull life” Ian Fleming, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang LONDON. Today, Wednesday 5 October, ‘James Bond Day’: Ian Fleming Publications Ltd (IFPL) announces plans to publish Ian Fleming’s books under its own imprint – a move that marks an exciting future for 007. Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, the family company that owns the literary copyright in his books, will be honouring the legacy of James Bond’s creator by producing its own editions of the 007 novels as well as non-fiction and the children’s classic Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang. The imprint – Ian Fleming Publications – will launch fresh editions in the UK and Commonwealth markets in spring 2023. Fleming’s original Bond novels and short story collections will be available from 13 April, exactly 70 years to the day after Ian Fleming first introduced special agent 007 to the world with the publication of Casino Royale. To date, since 1953, more than one hundred million Bond books have been sold worldwide. Initially, new editions of the original adventures will be released in paperback and as eBooks, with covers by the design company Webb & Webb. Prestige […]

The British Academy’s £25,000 international non-fiction book prize Shortlist of six includes three books in translation and three debuts Themes explored: the global history of science; the invention of the telephone and its impact on the deaf community; post-war Germany; female murderers in Chile; life in a remote Swedish village; and the Chinese language and its adaptation to the outside world Winner announced Wednesday 26 October “Shortlist casts new and unexpected light on issues of global currency and importance” (Patrick Wright, Chair of Jury) London: today, Tuesday 6 September, the British Academy reveals the shortlist for the 10th British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding (2022). The international book prize, worth £25,000, rewards and celebrates the best works of non-fiction that have contributed to public understanding of world cultures and their interaction. This year’s truly international shortlist introduces readers to six exceptional, meticulously researched books on a wide range of topics: from the lives of villagers in a remote Swedish community, to life in the ruins of a recovering post-war Germany; the Chinese language and its adaptation to an outside world dominated by alphabetic thinking; the stories of four women who have killed, as seen over a century in […]

@ThePortico #PorticoPrize “…Vividly evokes a period in recent history with themes that carry clear, if painful echoes, to today” Gary Younge, Chair of Judges 20.15: Thursday 20 January, MANCHESTER: Sally J Morgan has won The Portico Prize for Literature for her debut novel Toto Among the Murderers. Mostly set in Leeds and Sheffield in 1973, Toto Among the Murderers – published by J M Originals / Hachette –follows the story of Toto and her friends as they begin life after college, a time when the lives of women were overshadowed by the constant threat of sexual violence. The book is based on the author’s own experience of being offered a lift by the infamous murderers Fred and Rosemary West. Morgan, who grew up in Yorkshire, and now lives and works in Wellington, New Zealand, will receive £10,000 for winning the Portico Prize, the UK’s only award for outstanding writing that best evokes the ‘spirit of the North of England’. The announcement was made at an online ceremony hosted by broadcaster and presenter Simon Savidge at the Portico Library in Manchester. Commenting on behalf of the jury, Chair of Judges Gary Younge, the award-winning author, broadcaster and a Professor of Sociology […]