Press Release – 21st April 2018
2018 RUNCIMAN BOOK PRIZE: SHORT LIST ANNOUNCED
The Anglo-Hellenic League
(Registered Charity No. 278892)
The Hellenic Centre, 16/18 Paddington Street, London W1U 5AS
Email: info@anglohellenicleague.org
President and Chief Patron HRH Prince Michael of Kent GCVO
Joint Patrons HE The Greek Ambassador to the Court of St James’s
HBM Ambassador to Greece
Chairman Gerald Cadogan MA FSA
The short list for the 2018 Runciman Award was announced today by the Anglo-Hellenic League on behalf of the judges.
The books from which the winner will be selected are:
Collectors, Scholars and Forgers
Carolyn Higbie
Oxford University Press
Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities
Bettany Hughes
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
The Afterlives of Greek Sculpture
Rachel Kousser
Cambridge University Press
Greek Historical Inscriptions 478-404 BC
Robin Osborne & P. J. Rhodes
Oxford University Press
Classical Greek Oligarchy
Matthew Simonton
Princeton University Press
House of Names
Colm Tóibín
Penguin/Viking
Homer The Odyssey (tr.)
Emily Wilson
W. W. Norton & Company
‘This year’s short list is a good reflection of the range and quality of books submitted. The judges have read many scholarly works, often on refreshingly unusual topics, together with books that succeed in bringing the Greek world to a wider audience, and also novels and books of verse that demonstrate the abiding and lively power of Greek literature to inspire. Choosing a winner from this excellent short list is going to be quite a challenge.’
Dr John Penney (Chairman of the judges)
The winner or joint winners of the £9,000 award will be announced at a ceremony at the Hellenic Centre, 16-18 Paddington Street, London W1U 5AS on Thursday 14 June 2018, beginning at 5.45. All are welcome to attend but must please send names in advance.
For fuller information please visit our website specific to the book award.
Notes for editors
The Runciman Award, named after Sir Steven Runciman, author and former chairman of the Anglo-Hellenic League, was first awarded in 1986. Sponsored now by the Paraskevas Law Firm, London Branch, it is awarded by the Anglo-Hellenic League on the advice of a panel of independent judges.
The aim of the award is to celebrate the finest new books written in English on Greek history and culture from the earliest times to the present, to reward good accessible writing (which Runciman’s works exemplified), and to promote wider knowledge of Greece’s contribution to civilisation and values.
The award judges for 2018 are:
Dr John Penney, Wolfson College, Oxford (chairman)
Mr Dionysis Kapsalis, Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece
Dr Stavroula Pipyrou, St Andrews University
Professor Peter Frankopan, Worcester College, Oxford.
The Anglo-Hellenic League was founded in 1913 and is dedicated to friendship and understanding between the UK and Greece.
More information about the judges and previous winners is, and about the books on this year’s short-list will soon be, on the website; and about the Anglo-Hellenic League on www.anglohellenicleague.org. Please direct any further enquiries by email to the Runciman Award administrator Richard Carden (rcarden2@btinternet.com).
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