Ben Lerner's 'Transcription' Wins Orwell Prize for Political Fiction
The Orwell Prize Winners
American writer Ben Lerner has won this year’s Orwell Prize for political fiction for Transcription, a novel exploring technology and memory.
The Winning Novel: Transcription
In nonfiction, the prize went to Karen Bartlett for The Escape from Kabul, which looks at Afghan women lawyers who came under threat after the fall of Kabul in 2021.
The Prize Details
- The prizes come with £5,000.
- The first section of Lerner’s novel sees the narrator travelling to Providence, Rhode Island, to conduct a final interview with an eccentric German intellectual, Thomas.
The Judges' Perspective
“A forensic study of our insatiable appetite for new technology, [Transcription] explores the unreliable stories we tell ourselves about hunger, love and connection,” said judging chair Fiammetta Rocco, who helmed the International Booker prize for 20 years.
The Shortlisted Titles
- Along with Transcription, the titles shortlisted for this year’s fiction prize were A Private Man by Stephanie Sy-Quia, Every One Still Here by Liadan Ní Chuinn, Flashlight by Susan Choi, John of John by Douglas Stuart, The Comfort of Distant Stars by IO Echeruo, This Is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin, and Uprising by Tahmima Anam.
The Nonfiction Winners
Bartlett’s nonfiction prize winner, The Escape from Kabul, is “taut and crisp, and shines a light on a story that deserves attention”, said Rohan Silva, former policy adviser and founder of Libreria bookshop in Spitalfields, London.