Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize
Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize: Auschwitzland, fun for the Whole Family
This essay was shortlisted for the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize. I took a Valium on the plane to Poland. I had run into an old friend at the airport and… Continue reading
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Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize: What’s waiting at Elm Tree Loan
The following essay was shortlisted for the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize. It’s a cold, sunny morning when I take the bus to Elm Tree Loan. It’s a trip that I’ve… Continue reading
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Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize – Salt
The following essay was shortlisted for the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize. It follows the publication of the winning entry, by Tara Isabella Burton, and the runner-up, by Steven McGregor. The… Continue reading
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Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize – The Walking Wounded
This is the runner-up in our recent Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize. The rest of the shortlist will be published in the coming days. At the entrance is a pale stone… Continue reading
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The Spectator’s new Shiva Naipaul Prize winner
The Spectator is proud to announce it has a new Shiva Naipaul Memorial prize winner — Tara Isabella Burton. Tara’s dazzling travel essay about the town of Tbilisi greatly impressed… Continue reading
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Last chance for the Shiva Naipaul Prize 2012
Hilary Mantel recently won her second Booker Prize, having clinched two Bookers in a row, the latest for the second book of a planned trilogy – surely a first. As… Continue reading
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Frank Johnson, a magnum and me
The 1996 Spectator/ Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize was won by Miranda France. Here, she shares her experience of winning the award and visiting the Spectator office and then-editor Frank Johnson… Continue reading
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The Visit – Shiva Naipaul Prize, 2007
The 2007 Spectator/ Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize was won by Clarissa Tan. The prize, named after the late Trinidadian author, is for ‘the most acute and profound observation of a culture… Continue reading
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Entertaining Dr Murdock – Shiva Naipaul Prize, 2000
The Spectator/ Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize for the year 2000 was won by Mary Wakefield. The judges included Antony Beevor; Patrick Marhnam; Boris Johnson, then editor of the magazine; and Mark… Continue reading
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Happy birthday V.S. Naipaul
Given it’s V.S. Naipaul’s birthday today, we’ve dug out from the archives a 1979 Spectator review by Richard West of A Bend In The River. Don’t forget that the Shiva Naipaul Memorial… Continue reading
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Bad times in Buenos Aires – Shiva Naipaul Prize, 1996
Miranda France won the Spectator/ Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize in 1996. Her winning essay (below) formed the heart of her first, eponymous book. Two years later she wrote her second book,… Continue reading
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The most important taxi ride I’ve taken
The Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize, which The Spectator has just relaunched, is awarded for travel writing that gives ‘the most acute and profound observation of a culture alien to the… Continue reading
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Pink pigs in Paraguay – Shiva Naipaul Prize, 1997
John Gimlette, the award-winning travel writer and author of four books, was the winner of the Spectator/ Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize for travel writing in 1997. The judges of that year,… Continue reading
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Last Morning in Al Hamra – Shiva Naipaul Prize, 1987
The Spectator/ Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize for travel writing was first awarded in 1987, and its first-ever winner was Hilary Mantel, who has since won the 2009 Booker Prize for… Continue reading
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The 2012 Shiva Naipaul prize
When I won the first Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize, it was gratifying for me on every level. It helped me find a market for my work in the national press,… Continue reading
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Be ‘unafraid’, Hilary Mantel tells Shiva Naipaul Prize contenders
Hilary Mantel has just been long-listed for the Booker Prize for Bring Up the Bodies, her brilliant follow-up to Wolf Hall, which netted the coveted Booker itself in 2009. We at The Spectator… Continue reading
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