Transcription by Ben Lerner wins Orwell Prize for Political Fiction | books

American writer Ben Lerner won this year’s Orwell Prize for Political Fiction for Transcription, a novel that explores technology and memory.

In nonfiction, the award went to Karen Bartlett for her book “Escape from Kabul,” which tells the story of female Afghan lawyers who were threatened after the fall of Kabul in 2021.

The prizes, which aim to highlight books that best meet Orwell’s ambition to “turn political writing into art”, have a prize of £5,000.

The first section of Lerner’s novel sees the narrator traveling to Providence, Rhode Island, for a final interview with the eccentric German intellectual, Thomas. However, in his hotel room, the narrator drops his phone in the sink, meaning he is left without a functioning recording device. He proceeds with the interview without telling Thomas that the conversation will not be recorded.

“A forensic study of our insatiable appetite for new technology,” [Transcription] “It explores the unreliable stories we tell ourselves about hunger, love and connection,” said chief judge Fiammetta Rocco, who has overseen the International Booker Prize for 20 years. “It is about dying with dignity and growing up in a new world. It’s funny, clever and timely. Lerner deserves to be a household name.

Along with the copies, the titles nominated for this year’s fiction award are A Man of One’s Own by Stephanie C. Koya, Everyone’s Still Here by Lidan Ni Chuen, Flashlight by Susan Choi, John of John by Douglas Stewart, The Rest of Distant Stars by I. O. Ishiro, This Is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniel Moinuddin, and Uprising by Tahma Anam.

Joining Rocco on the fiction judging panel are academics Scarlett Barron and Olivette Ottilie, as well as The Telegraph’s literary editor Cal Revelli Calder.

Rohan Silva, a former political consultant and founder of Liberia Bookshop in London’s Spitalfields, said Bartlett’s nonfiction award-winning novel, Escape from Kabul, is “tight and clear, highlighting a story that deserves attention.” “The plight of the incredibly brave Afghan women judges in the face of Islamic fundamentalism is a moving story – and Karen Bartlett tells it with a deep reservoir of empathy and compassion. The book is truly Orwellian in the most positive sense.”

Along with Bartlett’s book, the shortlisted non-fiction titles include For the Sun After Long Nights by Fatima Jammalpour and Nilo Tabrizi, Israel: What Went Wrong? by Omar Bartov, The Shattered Lands by Sam Dalrymple, Stalin’s Messengers by Antonia Senior, The Elements of Power by Nicholas Niarchos, The Wall Dancers by Yi-Ling Liu, and Three Burning Years by Andrei Kurkov.

Joining Silva on the nonfiction panel are editor Sam Bowman, academic Lawrence Friedman, writer Jessie Lau, and Times technology business editor Katie Prescott.

Previous winners of the Fiction Prize include Hisham Matar, Ali Smith, Donal Ryan and Claire Keegan, while previous non-fiction winners include Patrick Radden Cave, Victoria Amelina and Peter Apps.