Indian American author Suketu Mehta was nominated in the past.
AB Wire
NEW YORK: New Delhi-based journalist Samanth Subramanian has been nominated in the longlist for the Samuel Johnson prize 2015, for his book ‘The Divided Island’, which are stories based on the civil strife in Sri Lanka.
Founded in 1999, Samuel Johnson prize is one of United Kingdom’s most prestigious awards for non-fiction. The prize is open to authors of all non-fiction books, in the area of current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography autobiography and the arts.
Subramanian’s book is amongst 12 books longlisted for the prize of 20,000 pounds. The shortlist will be announced in October during the London Literature Festival. The winner will be named in November.
Subramanian becomes only the second Indian-origin writer to be nominated for the award. Earlier, Indian American writer Suketu Mehta was shortlisted for his memorable book ‘Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found’, in 2005.
Subramanian had traveled to Sri Lanka in 2011, to write ‘The Divided Island.’ He had earlier won the 2010 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize for “Following Fish: Travels around the Indian Coast”. The book was also shortlisted for the 2013 Andre Simon Prize.
The other books selected by the judging panel, chaired by the Pulitzer prize-winning historian Anne Applebaum, in the longlist, include: “Guantanamo Diary” by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, “Ted Hughes: The Unauthorised Life by Jonathan Bate”, “Black Earth” by Tim Snyder, “Fighters in the Shadows by Robert Gildea”, “The Unravelling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq” by Emma Sky, “Nothing is True and Everything is Possible: Adventures in Modern Russia” by Peter Pomerantsev, “The Four Dimensional Human” by Laurence Scott, “Landmarks” by Robert McFarlane, “The Planet Remade” by Oliver Morton, ” Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism” by Steve Silberman and “The Four-Dimensional Human” by Laurence Scott.