Lords of Finance
Liaquat Ahamed
2009 The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction
Among the nominated books of the 11th edition of the prize was Michael Holroyd's first major biography is fifteen years, A Strange Eventful History. The full list of nominated books included a dramatic history of Quantum theory, an honest memoir of a woman craving silence, an urgent and riveting account of bureaucrats, brothels and AIDS on the frontline of sex and drugs, and the story of the Wittgenstein family.
Longlist announced
16 April 2009
Shortlist announced
15 May 2009
Winner & prize ceremony
15 July 2009
What the judges said“What made Leviathan stand out…was Philip Hoare’s lifelong passion for his subject and his skill in making his readers share it. His prose is dream-like and rises to the condition of literature.”
The shortlist
A prestigious shortlist of books are selected each year for the prize.
What the judges said"All of the shortlisted titles are the kinds of books we ordinarily might not have picked up - and now feel lucky to have read.”
The longlist
The Baillie Gifford Prize rewards excellence in non-fiction writing
Soul of the Age
Jonathan Bate
Pompeii
Mary Beard
A Fork in the Road
Andre Brink
The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
Alain De Botton
Science
Patricia Fara
Darwin's Island
Steve Jones
A Book of Silence
Sara Maitland
The Man Who Invented History
Justin Marozzi
Hester
Ian McIntyre
Sissinghurst
Adam Nicolson
The Wisdom of Whores
Elizabeth Pisani
The House of Wittgenstein
Alexander Waugh
Meet the judges for 2009
The longlist, shortlist and winner is chosen by a panel of independent judges, which changes every year
Jacob Weisberg
Founder of Tachyon Publications
Dr Mark Lythgoe
Founder and Director of the Centre for Advances Biomedical Imaging at UCL
Tim Marlow
Director and Chief Executive of the Design Museum
Munira Mirza
Former Director of the Number 10 Policy Unit
Sarah Sands
Former editor of the London Evening Standard