Baillie Gifford Prize

It's the final episode of the Read Smart podcast hearing from our 6 shortlisted authors! In this episode, Prize Executive Director Toby Mundy speaks with Adam Weymouth about Lone Wolf: Walking the Faultlines of Europe, one of the shortlisted works for the 2025 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. Weymouth follows the journey of a wolf across Europe, weaving together nature writing, identity and...

It's Episode 5 of the Read Smart podcast! In this episode, Prize Executive Director Toby Mundy speaks with biographer and historian Richard Holmes about The Boundless Deep: Young Tennyson, Science and the Crisis of Belief, a shortlisted title for the 2025 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. Holmes charts Alfred Lord Tennyson’s early years against the backdrop of science, faith and poetic ambiti...

It’s time for Episode 4 of the Read Smart podcast! In this episode, Prize Executive Director Toby Mundy speaks with journalist and author Jason Burke about The Revolutionists, shortlisted for the 2025 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. Burke examines the ideological ferment of the 1970s, exploring the militants, activists and ideas that shaped modern revolt. In this conversation, he explores h...

We’re diving into Episode 3 of the Read Smart podcast! In this episode, Prize Executive Director Toby Mundy speaks with acclaimed writer Helen Garner about How to End a Story, shortlisted for the 2025 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. Garner reflects on memory, mortality and the craft of turning life into narrative, drawing out the tender, awkward and surprising moments that shape a life on t...

We’re back with episode 2 of the Read Smart podcast! In this episode, Prize Executive Director Toby Mundy speaks with author and historian Justin Marozzi, shortlisted for the 2025 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction for his book Captives and Companions: A History of Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Islamic World. Marozzi traces 1,500 years of slavery across three continents, revealing how the...

We’re back with a brand new series of the Read Smart podcast! In this episode, Prize Executive Director Toby Mundy speaks with Author Frances Wilson, shortlisted for the 2025 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction with her new book Electric Spark: The Enigma of Muriel Spark. Frances Wilson unravels the life of Muriel Spark - novelist, poet, Catholic convert and master of literary mischief, whose li...

Tune into the final Read Smart podcast of the year, where Georgina Godwin speaks to the Baillie Gifford Prize 2024 winner, Richard Flanagan. Hear more from Richard about his origins as an author, alongside how the events from both history and his personal life inspired the ‘chain reactions’ explored throughout Question 7. Listen now to hear all about it. This podcast is generously supported by the...

Tune into our final 'In Conversation' podcast, where we chat to Việt Thanh Nguyễn, who has been shortlisted for his book, A Man of Two Faces, which masterfully intertwines personal and historical narratives with humour and lyricism. Nguyễn's work reflects on memory, the duality of identity, and the American experience. Listen now to hear all about it. This podcast is generously supported by the Bl...

Join us for the next episode of The Read Smart podcast, as we welcome David Van Reybrouck, acclaimed author of Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World. Revolusi, a bestseller in the Netherlands and now shortlisted for The Baillie Gifford Prize, offers a gripping narrative of Indonesia's fight for independence and its impact on global decolonisation. Discover the untold stories of a r...

Tune into our next 'In Conversation' podcast, where we chat to Richard Flanagan, who has been shortlisted for his brilliant book, Question 7. From the affair between H.G. Wells and Rebecca West to developments in 1930s nuclear physics, Flanagan has crafted a poignant love song to his island home, his parents, and the haunting echoes of the past in this book. Through a hypnotic blend of dream, hist...

Tune into our next 'In Conversation' podcast, where we chat to Annie Jacobsen, who has been shortlisted for the prize this year with Nuclear War: A Scenario. Jacobsen’s book explores the chilling minute-by-minute protocols that would unfold if a rogue state launched a nuclear missile at the United States and is a gripping exploration of nuclear conflict, sparking crucial discussions on global secu...

Tune into our next 'In Conversation' podcast, where we chat to Dr Rachel Clarke about her shortlisted book, The Story of a Heart, which intertwines the poignant tales of two children connected by a heart transplant. Hear Dr Clarke discuss the dedication of healthcare professionals and incredible medical advancements that make miracles like these possible, and why she believes conversations around...

Tune in to the first of our 'In Conversation' podcast episodes, where we speak to all six of this year's shortlisted authors about their extraordinary works of non-fiction. First up, Georgina Godwin speaks to Sue Prideaux, author of 'Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin'. Prideaux's award-winning works have captivated readers worldwide. From her James Tait Black Memorial Prize-winning biography of E...

Tune into the latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast, where host Georgina Godwin is joined by Heather Brooke, a member of this year's judging panel, to discuss the 2024 shortlist. Why did these six books stand out from the rest of the longlist? Listen now to hear all about it. The 2024 shortlist: - The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke - Question 7 by Richard Flanagan - Nuclear War: A Scenario b...

Tune into the latest episode of the Read Smart podcast, where two of our judges – Peter Hoskin and Chitra Ramaswamy – explore the 2024 longlist with our host, Georgina Godwin. Spanning the subjects of displacement, colonialism and nuclear war, this year's longlist unapologetically holds up a mirror to our contemporary world. Listen now to hear all about it. The podcast is generously supported by t...

Tune in to the next episode of The Read Smart Podcast, where Georgina Godwin speaks to Christina Lamb and Catrina Davies about the complex and delicate matter of exploring mental health and private contemplation on the public literary stage. Listen now to hear all about it. This podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. To keep up with the Prize news all year round, follo...

Tune in to the next episode of the Read Smart Podcast, where 2022 Baillie Gifford Prize judge, Georgina Godwin, speaks to 2023 winner John Vaillant, social geographer Danny Dorling and writer and award-winning journalist Jennifer Nadel about the crucial topics which are often overlooked by mainstream media. Which topic do you think is neglected most - and why? Listen now to hear all about it. This...

Join us for the latest episode of The Read Smart podcast, where host Razia Iqbal speaks to Isabel Hilton, 2024 Chair of Judges and founder of China Dialogue and Tania Branigan, The Guardian’s foreign leader writer. Together, Razia and our guests discuss the complex cultural legacy of China, alongside the opportunities and challenges the country has encountered and continues to face. Listen now to...

Join us for the next episode of The Read Smart podcast, where host Razia Iqbal joins writer, historian and former Baillie Gifford Prize judge, Ruth Scurr and Allan Jenkins, editor of Observer Food Monthly to discuss the cultural, historical and personal significance of gardens within the non-fiction landscape. Our guests explore how the action of gardening can imitate life, whilst providing a sour...

Tune into the first Read Smart episode of 2024 - and what a year it's set to be. With more than two billion voters in 50 countries heading to the polls, 2024 is set to be the biggest election year in history. Join host Razia Iqbal, as she delves into the topic with author and journalist, Samanth Subramanian and Associate Editor of The Financial Times, Stephen Bush. Find out our guests' predictions...

Tune into the final Read Smart episode of the year, where host Razia Iqbal will be speaking to the 2023 winner John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather, on how he feels following last Thursday’s announcement. Razia will also be joined by some students from the University of Birmingham, who have been following the Prize this term and share their thoughts on the world of non-fiction. Listen now to hear...

Tune into the latest episode of the Read Smart podcast, which is dedicated to Jennifer Homans and her #BGPrize2023 shortlisted work, Mr B: George Balanchine’s 20th Century. Recognised as the first major biography of the legendary choreographer and based on more than one hundred interviews, Jennifer’s work takes readers through the tumultuous life of the man who has been hailed by The New York Time...

Tune into this special shortlist edition of the Read Smart podcast, where Toby Mundy speaks to #BGPrize2023 shortlisted author Tania Branigan about her book, Red Memory: Living, Remembering and Forgetting China’s Cultural Revolution. Branigan’s book explores and uncovers forty years of rarely heard stories surrounding this Cultural Revolution, begging the question: what happens to the present when...

Tune into this special shortlist edition of the Read Smart podcast, where Razia Iqbal speaks to #BGPrize2023 shortlisted author, Hannah Barnes about Time To Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children. Through unprecedented access to thousands of pages of documents, internal emails, unpublished reports and personal testimony from former GIDS clinicians, H...

Tune into this episode of The Read Smart podcast, where host Toby Mundy speaks to 2023 shortlisted author Christopher Clark. Christopher’s book, Revolutionary Spring: Fighting for New World 1848-1849, details this extraordinary year in European history, where demonstrators rebelled against societal structures, governments and armies lost control and revolutionary sparks flew across all of Europe’s...