
The Baillie Gifford Prize rewards excellence in non-fiction writing, bringing the best in intelligent reflection on the world to new readers. It covers all non-fiction in the areas of current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts.
The winner of the 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize of Non-Fiction is Patrick Radden Keefe for Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
The Baillie Gifford Prize Podcast, Read Smart, explores the increasingly popular world of non-fiction books and follows the Prize throughout the year as it unfolds. Read Smart is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. Learn more about the podcast here.
2021 Prize:
- Longlist was announced on Thursday 9 September
- Shortlist was announced on Friday 15 October
- Winner of the prize was announced on Tuesday 16 November
The Winner
The Shortlist
- Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape by Cal Flyn
- Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945–1955 by Harald Jähner, translated by Shaun Whiteside
- Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
- Things I Have Withheld by Kei Miller
- Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston
- Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi
The Longlist
- Consumed: A Sister's Story By Arifa Akbar
- Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape by Cal Flyn
- Minarets in the Mountains: A Journey into Muslim Europe by Tharik Hussain
- Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945–1955 by Harald Jähner, translated by Shaun Whiteside
- Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
- The Mutant Project: Inside the Global Race to Genetically Modify Humans by Eben Kirksey
- Things I Have Withheld by Kei Miller
- Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston
- Blood Legacy: Reckoning With a Family's Story of Slavery by Alex Renton
- Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain by Sathnam Sanghera
- In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova translated by Sasha Dugdale
- Burning Man: The Ascent of DH Lawrence by Frances Wilson
- Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi