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The Orwell Foundation · award year

The Orwell Prize 2008

The 2008 Orwell Prize went to Palestinian Walks: Notes on a Vanishing Landscape by Raja Shehadeh. 7 books made the shortlist and 15 the longlist.

Winner

  1. Palestinian Walks: Notes on a Vanishing Landscape by Raja Shehadehsource (opens in a new tab)

Shortlist

  1. Bad Men: Guantanamo Bay and the Secret Prisons by Clive Stafford Smithsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left by Ed Husainsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Two Caravans by Marina Lewyckasource (opens in a new tab)
  4. What’s Left? How The Left Lost Its Way by Nick Cohensource (opens in a new tab)
  5. Wild: An Elemental Journey by Jay Griffithssource (opens in a new tab)
  6. William Wilberforce: The Life of the Great Anti-Slave Trade Campaigner by William Hague MPsource (opens in a new tab)

Longlist

  1. A History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marrsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Austerity Britain 1945-51 by David Kynastonsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Beslan: The Tragedy of School No. 1 by Timothy Phillipssource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Friendship and Betrayal: Ambition and the Limits of Loyalty by Graham Stewartsource (opens in a new tab)
  5. Kipling Sahib: India and the Making of Rudyard Kipling 1865-1900 by Charles Allensource (opens in a new tab)
  6. Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet by Mark Lynassource (opens in a new tab)
  7. The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan by Yasmin Khansource (opens in a new tab)
  8. The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin’s Russia by Orlando Figessource (opens in a new tab)

About the The Orwell Prize

Book prizes only: the combined Book Prize (category Book) to 2018, then the Political Writing and Political Fiction book prizes from 2019; journalism, blog and special prizes are out of scope. Year is the prize year the Foundation uses (winner announced in June). Membership and levels come from the shortlist, finalist and longlist blocks on each year's winner page; the site's 'finalists' are recorded as Shortlist. Longlists are published for 2008-2021 only, and 2006-2007 show a shortlist only. Dozens of older book pages carry a stray '2010 Book prize long list' header, so those rows cite the year's winner page, which lists them, instead of the book page. Duplicate pages for the same book (Frontline 2006; Whatever It Takes and Enough is Enough 2011) count once. Translators are not credited on the source pages.

Organization: The Orwell Foundation. Years are award years, which can differ from publication years. Official site (opens in a new tab)

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