According to the Prize’s website, the Special Award has been presented only eight times since 1997.
Lord Kim Darroch, Chair of the Board of Trustees, said:
“This evening, we are honoured to welcome one of the world’s most outstanding living writers. Like Orwell, he writes across the genres of fiction, non-fiction and journalism. Readers around the world are struck by the beauty of his storytelling and the horrors of war that he describes. Today, people going about their daily lives in Sudan, Gaza, Myanmar and many other places are, sadly, all too familiar with the realities of war. And, of course, so too are our European neighbours in Ukraine.
No one has documented their daily struggle — and the resilience, humour and unity that spring from it — quite like Andrey Kurkov. Alongside his diaries and essays, his novels — from the brilliant Death and the Penguin to his recent trilogy set in pre-revolutionary Kyiv — constitute one of the most outstanding bodies of work in contemporary literature. Orwell’s warnings against the dangers of totalitarianism and war read today as though they were written yesterday. Similarly, we are convinced that Andriy’s books and journalism will stand the test of time.”
The winners were announced on 25 June at the Bloomsbury Theatre as part of UCL200, the programme marking the 200th anniversary of University College London. The jury for the Political Writing category, in which Kurkov was nominated, comprised Jessie Lau, Katie Prescott, Lawrence Freedman, Rogan Silva (who chaired the jury) and Sam Bowman.
The George Orwell Prize, in accordance with the writer’s own wishes, is awarded for works that ‘transform political writing into art’. The prize is worth £3,000.