2009 - The Winner

LEVIATHAN, OR THE WHALE by Philip Hoare

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A book about a life long obsession with whales inspired by the literary classic Moby-Dick has won the UK’s most prestigious non-fiction prize.

Leviathan, or The Whale by Philip Hoare (Fourth Estate) was tonight (30th June 2009) named the winner of the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2009. 

Jacob Weisberg, one of America’s leading political journalists and commentators and chair of the judges, made the announcement at an awards ceremony held at King’s Place, London. He commented:

“What made Leviathan stand out in a shortlist of wonderful reads was Philip Hoare’s lifelong passion for his subject and his skill in making his readers share it. His prose is dream-like and rises to the condition of literature.”

After Herman Melville published his book Moby Dick in 1851, no one saw whales in quite the same way again, having created a modern myth out of an already legendary beast. But what is the true nature of the whale? Why does it fascinate us?

In Leviathan, Philip Hoare seeks to locate and identify his life-long obsession with this mythical creature of the sea. From his childhood fascination with the gigantic models of London’s Natural History Museum to adult encounters with the wild animals themselves, Philip Hoare has been obsessed with whales. Leviathan is a gripping voyage of discovery into the heart of this obsession and Moby-Dick, the book that inspired it. Travelling around the globe and taking the reader deep into the whale’s domain, Philip Hoare sheds light on our perennial fascination with whales, whose nature remains tantalizingly undiscovered.

“This is the book he [Philip Hoare] was born to write, a classic of its kind. What poetry there is here and what a balm for the soul” Rachel Cooke, The Observer

‘”Philip Hoare’s writing is quite untrammelled by convention and opens up astonishing views at every turn.” W.G. Sebald

“Insights and images rise in plumes from almost every page” Jonathan Bate, Sunday Telegraph

Philip Hoare is the author of several books, including Serious Pleasures: The Life of Stephen Tennant; Noel Coward; Oscar Wilde’s Last Stand; Spike Island; and England’s Lost Eden. He lives in Southampton, and frequently visits Cape Cod as a member of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies as a volunteer on its humpback whale identification programme.

Formerly The BBC FOUR Samuel Johnson Prize, the change in name reflects the BBC’s commitment to broadcasting coverage of the prize on a special edition of BBC TWO’s The Culture Show featuring coverage of the contenders and an interview with Philip Hoare, which goes out tonight at 11.20pm.

The other shortlisted books for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize:

• Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed (William Heinemann)
• Bad Science by Ben Goldacre (Fourth Estate)
• The Lost City of Z by David Grann(Simon and Schuster)
• The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science byRichard Holmes (HarperPress)
• Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality by Manjit Kumar (Icon Books)

Jacob Weisberg was joined on the judging panel by Dr Mark Lythgoe, neuroscientist at University College London and Director of the Cheltenham Science Festival; Tim Marlow, writer, broadcaster and art historian and director of exhibitions at White Cube; Munira Mirza, Director of Policy, Arts, Culture and the Creative Industries at the Mayor of London’s office; and Sarah Sands, Deputy Editor at the London Evening Standard.

The other shortlisted books for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize:

• Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed (William Heinemann)
• Bad Science by Ben Goldacre (Fourth Estate)
• The Lost City of Z by David Grann(Simon and Schuster)
• The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science byRichard Holmes (HarperPress)
• Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality by Manjit Kumar (Icon Books)

Jacob Weisberg was joined on the judging panel by Dr Mark Lythgoe, neuroscientist at University College London and Director of the Cheltenham Science Festival; Tim Marlow, writer, broadcaster and art historian and director of exhibitions at White Cube; Munira Mirza, Director of Policy, Arts, Culture and the Creative Industries at the Mayor of London’s office; and Sarah Sands, Deputy Editor at the London Evening Standard.

Former Winners

Notes to Editors

• Philip Hoare may be available for interview. Please contact Hannah Blake at Colman Getty
• There were 166 entries in total, 19 titles on the longlist and 6 on the shortlist
• Electronic images of the winning book and 5 other shortlisted books and authors are available from Colman Getty
• Photographs of the winner, judges and the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction logo are available from Colman Getty
• The judges may be available for comment and can be contacted through Colman Getty
• The BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction is open to books in the areas of current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts. Books published in English by writers of any nationality are eligible for the prize, provided they are published in the UK between 1 May 2008 and 30 April 2009
• The BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction is managed by a steering committee and administered by Colman Getty. The steering committee is made up of Stuart Proffitt, Chair, (Publishing Director, Penguin), Antony Beevor (historian and author), Peter Florence (Director of the Guardian Hay Festival),  Dotti Irving (Chief Executive, Colman Getty), Mervyn King (Governor, The Bank of England), Toby Mundy, (CEO of Atlantic Books), James Naughtie (broadcaster, BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme), Alan Rusbridger (Editor of The Guardian), Peter Straus (literary agent, Rogers, Coleridge and White) and Martin Taylor (International Adviser for Goldman Sachs)