Twelve authors vying for Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize

Authors praised for “translating Jewishness to the general reader” are waiting to hear whether they are £4,000 better off, as the long-list for the Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize was announced this week.

Among the 12 short-listed fictional and non-fictional works from around the world there are four novels, three biographies, a history of Nazi concentration camps and one focusing on their liberation.

Authors such as Howard Jacobson, Sasha Abramsky, Dan Stone and Hannah Rothschild are now looking to join a roll-call of past winners including Amos Oz, Zadie Smith and Oliver Sacks.

“We wanted to find the best books we could and our long list includes novels exploring looted art, anti-Semitism and two very different glimpses of Israel,” said Samantha Ellis, chair of the judging panel. “Non-fiction was particularly strong this year and makes up more than half of our list.”

Columnist Hugo Rifkind, Granta Top 20 Young Novelist Tahmima Anam and Senior Masorti Judaism Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg will also be comparing notes, as they decide on a winner, before a winner is announced at JW3 on Sunday 21 February.