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BBC FOUR SAMUEL
JOHNSON PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2004
FIRST TIME AUTHOR
WINS £30,000
BBC FOUR SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE
Anna Funder was tonight (Tuesday 15 June) named as the winner
of the BBC FOUR Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2004
for her book, Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin
Wall, published by Granta.
Stasiland, Funder’s first book, gives a voice
to the ordinary people of the former German Democratic Republic.
The reader follows Funder as she unearths stories of astonishing
cruelty inflicted on its citizens by the state. Despite the
sobering subject matter, it contains wonderful flashes of
humour and has been described as ‘a brilliant and necessary
book’ which ‘both devastates and lifts the heart.’
The Chair of judges, Michael Wood, made the announcement
live on BBC FOUR from a dinner held at London’s Savoy
Hotel. He commented:
‘The quality and range of this year’s entries
for the BBC FOUR Samuel Johnson Prize have been wonderful.
The winner, Anna Funder’s Stasiland,is a fresh
and highly original close-up of what happens to people in
the corrosive atmosphere of a totalitarian state. An intimate
portrait - both touching and funny - of survivors caught
between their desire to forget and the need to remember.
A beautifully executed first book, Stasiland deserves
to be packed with the holiday reading this summer and enjoyed
by anyone who loves good writing.’
The BBC FOUR Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, now in
its sixth year, celebrates originality and diversity in contemporary
non-fiction publishing. Named in honour of the great critic,
essayist, lexicographer, poet and biographer, the BBC FOUR
Samuel Johnson Prize is the world’s richest prize for
non-fiction, recognising works published in English in the
UK, regardless of the nationality of the author.
The winning book was chosen from a shortlist of six, announced
last month. The winner receives a cheque for £30,000,
and each of the shortlisted authors receive a cheque for £1,000.
/continues……
The judges for the 2004 prize were: writer and broadcaster,
Michael Wood (Chair); author, broadcaster and journalist,
Aminatta Forna; political editor of BBC TV’s Newsnight, Martha
Kearney; science writer and broadcaster, Simon Singh; and
author, journalist and broadcaster, Francis Wheen.
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