Caravaggio
Andrew Graham-Dixon
2011 The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction
The 13th edition of the prize saw a list of nominated books that included a provocative exploration of how culture affects language, the history of a family told through 264 ivory and wood carvings, a non-fiction thriller of a horrific crime and subsequent trial in Japan, an intimate exploration of sexuality in marriage in early and mid twentieth-century England, the history of China’s most devastating catastrophe, and a biography of one of the greatest storytellers of all time.
Longlist announced
15 April 2011
Shortlist announced
14 June 2011
Winner & prize ceremony
6 July 2011
The winner
Mao’s Great Famine
The History of China’s Most Devastating Catastrophe
Published by: Bloomsbury
What the judges said"Frank Dikötter has created a harrowing, superbly-written indictment of Mao's disastrous revolutionary experiment that led to the unnecessary deaths of 45 million Chinese people.”
The shortlist
A prestigious shortlist of books are selected each year for the prize.
What the judges said"While one of these great books certainly deserves to win, five do not deserve to lose."
The longlist
The Baillie Gifford Prize rewards excellence in non-fiction writing
Tolstoy
Rosamund Bartlett
Afgantsy
Rodric Braithwaite
Through the Language Glass
Guy Deutscher
The Hare With Amber Eyes
Edmund de Waal
Capitalism 4.0
Anatole Kaletsky
Scott-land
Stuart Kelly
People Who Eat Darkness
Richard Lloyd Parry
The Bridge
David Remnick
Storyteller
Donald Sturrock
Bomber County
Daniel Swift
Sex Before the Sexual Revolution
Simon Szreter
Amexica
Ed Vulliamy
What the judges said"We have come up with a long list that reflects the extraordinary quality and range of the books published in this stellar year for non-fiction.”
Meet the judges for 2011
The longlist, shortlist and winner is chosen by a panel of independent judges, which changes every year
Ben Macintyre
Shortlisted for the Costa Biography of the Year award and the National Book Awards
David Goodhart
Former editor of Prospect Magazine
Sam Leith
Literary editor of The Spectator
Brenda Maddox
Past chairman of the Broadcasting Press Guild and of the Association of British Science Writers
Amanda Vickery
Fellow of the British Academy