Wellcome Trust Book Prize 2011 judging panel announced
The panel is chaired by science writer and broadcaster Vivienne Parry. Judges include Joanna Bourke, Professor of History and prize-winning author of nine books; Roger Highfield, Editor of ‘New Scientist’; Tim Lott, prize-winning author; and Erica Wagner, Literary Editor of ‘The Times’.
The Wellcome Trust Book Prize was launched in 2009 and celebrates the best of medicine in literature by awarding £25,000 each year for the finest work of fiction or non-fiction centred around medicine. The judging panel reflects the aim of the Prize to bring together the traditionally diverse fields of medicine and literature and to stimulate debate about medicine and literature among the broadest possible audience.
Vivienne Parry comments: "Medical science helps to explain life but the arts give life meaning. Hats off to the Wellcome Trust for recognising the role of both science and the arts and for setting up this prize, which celebrates those writers who bring them together. I've only just begun my reading and already these books have made me laugh, made me cry, made me humble and given me a far greater insight into the human condition than I ever had before."
Entries for this year's Prize have now closed, and a shortlist of six books will be announced at The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival in October 2011. The winner will be announced at a prestigious ceremony in November 2011 at Wellcome Collection in London, the Trust's free destination for the incurably curious, which explores the connections between medicine, life and art.
Previous winners of the Prize include Andrea Gillies in 2009 for 'Keeper' (Short Books), a moving account of a journey into dementia, and Rebecca Skloot in 2010 for 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' (Pan Macmillan).
Clare Matterson, Director of Medical Humanities and Engagement at the Trust, comments: "The Wellcome Trust Book Prize celebrates the books that capture the public interest in illness, health and medical science. Whether non-fiction or a gripping novel, books tackling these subjects have the capacity to enthrall and captivate the reader. Best of luck to the many publishers and authors who have entered."
The Wellcome Trust Book Prize judging panel 2011
- Images are available via Colman Getty.
- The judges may be available for interview and can be contacted through Colman Getty.
Vivienne Parry is a science writer and broadcaster best known for her many programmes for BBC Radio 4. She is also a prolific writer, contributing to a wide range of magazines and newspapers including 'The Times', the 'Guardian' and 'Good Housekeeping'. Her most recent book, 'The Truth About Hormones', was shortlisted for the 2006 Aventis Science Prize.
She is Vice-Chair of Council for University College London and sits on the Council of the MRC. Vivienne has worked with the Princess of Wales, been a columnist for the 'News of the World' and presented 'Tomorrow’s World'.
Joanna Bourke is Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London and has a Wellcome Trust grant in Medical History and Humanities to write a history of pain. She is the prize-winning author of nine books, including histories on modern warfare, military medicine, psychology and psychiatry, and rape. 'An Intimate History of Killing' won the Wolfson Prize and the Fraenkel Prize. Her next book, 'What it Means to be Human', will be published in September 2011.
Joanna is a frequent contributor to TV and radio, and a regular newspaper correspondent.
Roger Highfield was the science editor of the 'Daily Telegraph' for two decades and has been Editor of 'New Scientist' magazine since 2008. While studying for his DPhil, he became the first person to bounce a neutron off a soap bubble.
Roger has won various prizes for journalism, including a British Press Award. He edited 'A Life Decoded', the autobiography of the genome pioneer Craig Venter, and has written or co-authored seven books, including the bestseller 'The Arrow of Time'. Last year, Roger was a judge of the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction.
Tim Lott is a former journalist whose first book, the memoir 'The Scent of Dry Roses', won the PEN/JR Ackerley Prize for Autobiography and is now published as a Penguin Modern Classic. His first novel, 'White City Blue', won the Whitbread First Novel Award. Tim’s most recent novel, 'Fearless', is a mythic, political, dystopian fable about a group of 1000 girls confined to an institute in a time of terror.
Tim writes for a wide range of publications and frequently appears on TV and radio as a commentator and critic.
Erica Wagner is Literary Editor of 'The Times' and author of numerous stories and poems as broadcast on radio and published in the 'Times Literary Supplement' and 'PN Review'. She is also the author of 'Gravity' (a collection of short stories), 'Ariel’s Gift: Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and the story of Birthday Letters' and the novel 'Seizure'. She reviews regularly for 'The New York Times' and appears frequently on television and radio.
Erica has judged many literary prizes including the Man Booker Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award, the Forward Prize and the Warwick Prize for Writing.
About the Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. It supports the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities. The Trust's breadth of support includes public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health. It is independent of both political and commercial interests.