25th June 2021
It is our pleasure to announce that Ali Smith is the winner of The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2021 for her novel ‘Summer’ (Hamish Hamilton). Earlier this week, Ali Smith visited Orwell’s family home in Southwold, Suffolk, from where she sent us this film.
“The conclusion to Ali Smith’s seasonal quartet seals her reputation as the great chronicler of our age…. It will serve as a time-capsule which will prove to be essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the mood of Britain during this turbulent time.”
Next to the mural of Orwell at Southwold Pier, Ali Smith said: “Orwell’s fiction understands the acute difference between the politics of art and the artfulness of politics. His fiction demonstrates that the power of language is mighty, and that this might is life-changing."
The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, first awarded in 2019, is generously sponsored and supported by George Orwell’s son, Richard Blair, and A. M. Heath Literary Agents. Many thanks to our panel, Chair of Judges Delia Jarrett-Macauley, Andrea Stuart, Bea Carvalho and Mark Ford.