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The Orwell Prize for Political Writing has announced an 18-strong longlist for its books category, heralding a "new age" of political writing. The list encompasses Alastair Campbell's The Blair Years (Hutchinson), Orlando Figes' The Whisperers (Allen Lane) and Marina Lewycka's Two Caravans (Fig Tree), among others (see full list below).
The judges were "especially impressed by the quantity of passionate political writing that broke away from the constraints of traditional politics: novels on the lived experience of migration, polemics against the destruction of our wild places, personal accounts of religious extremism and travelogues exploring the political heart of Africa and China."
A record 181 books were submitted for this year’s book prize, surpassing both the Man Booker and Samuel Johnson Prizes.
Chair of judges Jean Seaton said: "As this year’s Orwell entries show, we are on the brink of a new age of political writing. An ‘Obama effect’ is galvanising thought and risk-taking in a generation of political inventors in the Orwell tradition."
This year’s judges are Seaton, Annalena McAfee (founder of Guardian Review), Albert Scardino (Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist) and John Tusa (former head of the BBC World Service).
The shortlists (of six entries) for the books as well as the journalism category will be announced on Wednesday 26th March, and the winners will be announced at the Foreign Press Association on 24th April.
Books longlist in full:
Kipling Sahib by Charles Allen (Little, Brown)
Blood River by Tim Butcher (Chatto)
The Blair Years by Alastair Campbell Diaries (Hutchinson)
What’s Left? by Nick Cohen (Fourth Estate)
The Whisperers by Orlando Figes (Allen Lane)
Luck and the Irish by Roy Foster (Allen Lane)
Wild: An Elemental Journey by Jay Griffiths (Hamish Hamilton)
William Wilberforce by William Hague (HarperPress)
The Islamist by Ed Husain (Penguin)
The Great Partition by Yasmin Khan (Yale UP)
Austerity Britain by David Kynaston (Bloomsbury)
Two Caravans by Marina Lewycka (Fig Tree)
Six Degrees by Mark Lynas (Fourth Estate)
A History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr (Macmillan)
Beslan by Timothy Phillips (Granta)
Palestinian Walks by Raja Shehadeh (Profile)
Bad Men: Guantanamo Bay and the Secret Prisons by Clive Stafford Smith (Weidenfeld)
Friendship and Betrayal by Graham Stewart (Weidenfeld)
Journalism longlist in full:
Martin Bright, New Statesman, political editor
Johann Hari, Independent
Clive James, BBC Radio 4
Anton La Guardia, The Economist, defence and security editor
Bronwen Maddox, Times, chief foreign commentator
Henry Porter, Observer
Andrew Rawnsley, Observer, chief political commentator
Mary Riddell, Observer
Alec Russell, Financial Times, Johannesburg bureau chief
Mike Settle, The Herald, UK political editor
Paul Vallely, Independent
Justin Webb, BBC Radio 4, North American editor