Ghosts of the Tsunami by Richard Lloyd Parry
Winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize 2018 has been announced as Ghosts of the Tsunami by Richard Lloyd Parry.
Parry’s literary non-fiction book investigates the impact of the grief and trauma on the remote communities that lived through the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Parry lived in Tokyo when the earthquake took place and reported on the fallout for six years, witnessing first-hand how the shock moulded the lives of the people it touched.
The foreign correspondent and Asia Editor of The Times Richard Lloyd Parry receives the £20,000 prize – which rewards the best work of literature of the year, regardless of form – for Ghosts of the Tsunami.
Parry fought off strong competition from a diverse shortlist comprising of:
Anything Is Possible – Elizabeth Strout (Viking)
Conversations With Friends – Sally Rooney (Faber)
Exit West – Mohsin Hamid (Hamish Hamilton)
Once Upon A Time In The East: A Story of Growing Up – Xiaolu Guo (Chatto & Windus)
Reservoir 13 – Jon McGregor (4th Estate)
The Day That Went Missing – Richard Beard (Harvill Secker)
White Tears – Hari Kunzru (Hamish Hamilton)
The 2018 judges were Jim Crace, author of twelve award-winning books, including Harvest and The Melody; Nikesh Shukla, editor of the essay collection The Good Immigrant and author of the widely acclaimed Meatspace; and the award-winning writer and journalist Kate Summerscale, author of books including The Suspicions of Mr Whicher and The Queen of Whale Cay.
Philip Howell, CEO of Rathbones, said: “Our heartfelt congratulations go to Richard Lloyd Parry for winning the Rathbones Folio Prize 2018. Being cross-genre, this prize highlights the diversity of great writing and for Richard Lloyd Parry to be elevated above such a strong shortlist is an impressive feat. Colleagues at Rathbones, clients and friends have all greatly enjoyed exploring the shortlist proving the power of the written word to engage, challenge and connect. We look forward to our continued collaboration with the Folio Academy Foundation in support of the Rathbones Folio Prize and our other programmes, such as Rathbones Folio Mentorships for young writers and Rathbones BookBubble digital reading programme.”
If you want a non-fiction recommendation then check out my review of Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks.
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