I've been a fan of George Orwell's fiction and essays since I was a teenager. So I was delighted when in 2019 The Orwell Prizes created an award for the best new political fiction. This seeks to commend new writing which comes closest to George Orwell’s ambition ‘to make political writing into an art’. I especially enjoy novels and short stories which actively engage with major social, cultural, moral, historical and political subject matters so it's great this prize is highlighting this aspect of current fiction. The first two winners of the fiction award were “Milkman” by Anna Burns and “The Nickel Boys” by Colson Whitehead.
I'm eager to see what this year's winner will be after looking at the shortlist. It includes three novels I've already read including “The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett, “Leave the World Behind” by Rumaan Alam and “Summer” by Ali Smith. It's always a pleasure when book prize lists include a mixture of books I've already read and ones I want to read as I feel more engaged with how the judges might pick a winner. I would still like to read “Apeirogon” by Colum McCann which was also longlisted for last year's Booker Prize and “Afterlives” by Abdulrazak Gurnah whose writing I've previously enjoyed. I had very mixed feelings about Akwaeke Emezi's novel “Freshwater” so I'm unsure whether I'll like “The Death of Vivek Oji” but I have heard a lot of positive things about it. You can watch me discuss this prize and give summaries of the shortlisted novels here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyKYW-wy0kM
From what I've read so far, I'm hoping “Summer” will win because Smith's 'Seasonal Quartet' has engaged with our current politics more dynamically and artfully than any other recent books I can think of. Since this is the final novel in her series it'd also be wonderful to see her commended for such an outstanding and lengthy literary achievement.
What do you think of the shortlist? Are you keen to read any of these novels? What's the best fiction you've read recently that you'd classify as overtly political?
