CONSISTING of three novels, three memoirs, and six non-fiction titles, this year’s Wellcome Book Prize longlist is one of the most varied we’ve seen yet. The list was hand selected by a judging panel led by artist and writer Edmund de Waal OBE who was joined by Dr Hannah Critchlow, Bryony Gordon, Sumit Paul-Choudhury and Sophie Ratcliffe. Making the announcement De Waal said ‘This is a remarkable time for readers, with a great flourishing of writing on ideas around science, medicine and health, lives and deaths, histories and futures.’
Judging panel of the 2018 Wellcome Book Prize
Edmund de Waal (Chair)
The Wellcome collection prides itself on challenging how we think and feel about health. Encouraging new meanings on what it means to be human, the global charitable foundation fuels imaginations and sparks debate. Founded in 2007 the Wellcome Collection now attracts over 700,000 visitors per year and is tagged as “the free destination for the incurably curious”. The Wellcome Book Prize is unique in its reach across genres, bringing novels, memoirs, and non-fiction into one bracket.
The 2018 longlist for the Wellcome Book Prize
Last year’s winner Mend the Living by Maylis de Kerangal told the story of a transplant organ. Following its journey across bodies, the book explored the metaphysical zone between life and death. The book has gone on to inspire new understandings of one man’s death is another man’s breath. This year’s list includes the latest book from Man Booker International Prize winner Han Kang, as well as the debut book from Joseph Jebelli who took inspiration from his grandfather’s battle with Alzheimer’s, Sunday Times no.1 bestseller Maggie O’Farrell’s memoir, and a memoir from Sigrid Rausing who was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize in 2015.
by Lily Rimmer
The shortlist for the prize will be announced on March 20 and the winner will be announced on April 20 at Wellcome Collection.