Professor Philippe Sands long-listed for prestigious literary awards

22 September 2016

Professor Philippe Sands QC, Professor of Law at UCL Faculty of Laws has been long-listed for the 2016 Cundill Prize in Historical Literature, the 2016 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, and short-listed for The Biographer’s Club Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize, for his book ‘East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity’.

‘East West Street’ focusses on an invitation to deliver a lecture in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, where Professor Sands began to uncover a series of extraordinary historical coincidences. It set him on a quest that would take him halfway around the world in an exploration of the origins of international law and the pursuit of his own secret family history, beginning and ending with the last day of the Nuremberg trial.

Professor Sands said:

“I’m hugely grateful to UCL and the Faculty of Law for so fully supporting my writing, and giving me a chance to have the privilege of appearing on two prize long-lists and a short-list that include such wonderful writers and books!”

The Cundill Prize in Historical Literature is offered each year to an individual who is determined to have had, or likely to have, a profound literary, social and intellectual impact. Administered by Montreal’s McGill University, the Cundill Prize recognizes outstanding works of non-fiction that are grounded in scholarly research while retaining wide appeal and interest to the general public. The shortlist will be announced in early October, and the winner will be announced in November 2016.

The Baillie Gifford Prize, formerly known as The Samuel Johnson Prize (1999 – 2015), aims to reward the best of non-fiction in the areas of current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts. The shortlist will be announced on 17 October, with the winner announced on 15 November 2016.

The Biographer’s Club Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize awards a prize to the judges’ choice for the best first biography published each year. The winner will be announced on 15 November 2016.

Read more about the Baillie Gifford Prize