Posted by Ben Lerner wins Orwell prize for political propaganda | Books

American writer Ben Lerner won this year The Orwell Prize about the political fiction of Transcription, a book exploring technology and memory.

In nonfiction, the award went to Karen Bartlett for The Escape from Kabul, which focuses on Afghan women lawyers threatened by the fall of Kabul in 2021.

The awards, whose purpose is to highlight books that meet well Orwell’s demands “Making political writing art”, come up with £5,000.

The first part of Lerner’s novel sees the author travel to Providence, Rhode Island, for a final interview with the German genius, Thomas. However, in his hotel room, the narrator drops his phone in the sink, meaning he is left without a recording device. He continues with the interview without telling Thomas that the interview is not being recorded.

“A forensic investigation of our insatiable desire for new technology, (Transcription) explores the unreliable stories we tell ourselves about hunger, love and connection,” said jury leader Fiammetta Rocco, who has supported the International Booker prize for 20 years. “It’s about dying with dignity and growing up in a new world. It’s funny, smart and timely. Lerner deserves to be a household name.”

Along with Transcript, the titles nominated for this year’s fiction awards were A Private Man by Stephanie Sy-Quia, Everyone’s Still Here by Liadán Ní Chuinn, Flashlight by Susan Choi, John of John and Douglas Stuart, The Comfort of Distant Stars by IO Echeruo, This is where the snake lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin, and Attack by Tahmima Anam.

Joining Rocco on the fictional judging panel were students Scarlett Baron and Olivette Otele, as well as Telegraph editorial editor Cal Revely-Calder.

Bartlett’s no-nonsense prize winner, The Escape from Kabul, is “bright and vivid, and illuminates a subject that needs to be looked at,” says Rohan Silva, a former policy adviser and founder of the Libreria bookshop in Spitalfields, London. “The plight of Afghanistan’s most courageous female judges in the face of Islamic law is a fascinating tale – and Karen Bartlett tells it with great compassion and empathy.

In addition to Bartlett’s book, short titles not mentioned were For the Sun After Long Nights by Fatemeh Jamalpour and Nilo Tabrizy, Israel: What went wrong? and Omer Bartov, Broken States by Sam Dalrymple, Apostles of Stalin by Antonia Senior, The Elements of Power by Nicolas Niarchos, The Wall Dancers by Yi-Ling Liu, and Three Years On Fire by Andrey Kurkov.

Joining Silva on the nonfiction panel were editor Sam Bowman, scholar Lawrence Freedman, writer Jessie Lau and Times technology business editor Katie Prescott.

Past fiction prize winners include Hisham Matar, Ali Smith, Donal Ryan and Claire Keegan, while past non-fiction winners include Patrick Radden Keefe, Victoria Amelina and Peter Apps.