Samuel Johnson Prize

Named in honour of the renowned writer and lexicographer, the original Samuel Johnson Prize was established in 1999 to recognise the best work of non-fiction in the previous year. It is the UK’s richest prize for non-fiction and, in the space of a few years has grown in popularity and prestige to become one of the country’s leading book awards.

The UK's most prestigious non-fiction literary award returns for 2008. Now in its tenth year, the prize is open to books in the areas of current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts. All books published in the UK by writers of any nationality are eligible.

The judges for the 2008 BBC FOUR Samuel Johnson Prize announced the shortlist today, 15th May. Now in its tenth year the prize is the world’s richest non-fiction prize and is worth £30,000 to the winner.

Below are the current odds from William Hill:
The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S Naipaul by Patrick French (Picador) 5/2 FAVOURITE
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher Or The Murder at Road Hill House by Kate Summerscale (Bloomsbury) – 3/1
Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart by Tim Butcher (Vintage) - 4/1
The Whisperers by Orlando Figes (Allen Lane) – 4/1
Crow Country by Mark Cocker (Jonathan Cape) – 5/1
The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross (Fourth Estate) – 6/1

“Absolutely riveting”account of 19th century detective wins the 10th Anniversary Prize

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: or The Murder at Road Hill House
by Kate Summerscale,

a pacy analysis of a murder case in a Wiltshire country house in 1860 which inspired detective genre writers including Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins, was tonight named the winner of the BBC FOUR Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2008. The author, Kate Summerscale, the tenth winner of the Prize, wins £30,000.

This is the second win in a row for publisher Bloomsbury whose startling account of Baghdad’s Green Zone, Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran won the 2007 Prize.
Rosie Boycott, Chair of the judges, made the announcement at an awards ceremony held in the Ballroom at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre. She commented:

“The Suspicions of Mr Whicher is a dramatic page-turning detective yarn of a real-life murder that inspired the birth of modern detective fiction. Kate Summerscale has brilliantly merged scrupulous archival research with vivid storytelling that reads with the pace of a Victorian thriller. The book is a rare work of non-fiction that mimics suspense genre and leaves one gripped until the final paragraph. Jack Whicher of Scotland Yard, who became the most celebrated detective of his day, is a complex, shabby character who immediately conjures up images of the scruffy looking LA cop, Columbo and even of Rebus. The Road Hill murder case was to dominate newspaper headlines and caused national hysteria, and inspired a generation of novelists from Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins to Conan Doyle. We can’t think of a better winner for the 10th year of the Prize.”