Jewish Quarterly announces finalists for Wingate Prize
Award given annually by British magazine to the book that best conveys 'idea of Jewishness to the general reader'
The British cultural and literary magazine Jewish Quarterly announced on Wednesday its five finalists for the Wingate Prize, an award the publication gives out annually for the book that best “translate[s] the idea of Jewishness to the general reader.”
This year’s finalists include “The Crime and the Silence” by Anna Bikont; “Final Solution: The Fate of the Jews 1933-1949” by David Cesarani; “Waking Lions” by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen; “All for Nothing” by Walter Kempowski; and “East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity” by Philippe Sands.
The winner of the award — now in its 40th year — will be announced on February 23.
The judges for this year’s Wingate Prize are playwright Amy Rosenthal, author Joanna Kavenna, Jewish Quarterly Literary Editor and translator Natasha Lehrer, and literature professor Bryan Cheyette.
Cheyette, who is chairing the panel of judges, said in a press release that all the books are “focused on live issues which have a huge relevance to the world today and connect to the present-day reader – mass refugees, the horror of war and the denial of the humanity of others in the face of global indifference.”
Past winners of the award include Amos Oz, Zadie Smith, Oliver Sacks, Otto Dov Kulka and David Grossman.