We are pleased to announce that the Wingate Prize and the Jewish Literary Foundation will be working in partnership this year.
Now in its 48th year, the annual £4,000 prize is awarded to the best book – fiction or non-fiction – to convey the idea of Jewishness to the general reader.
As British Jewry’s most prestigious book award it attracts nominations from all over the world with previous winners including Nicole Krauss, Amos Oz, Oliver Sacks, David Grossman, Linda Grant and Elizabeth McCracken.
This year’s judging panel will be comprised of Keiron Pim, Zahavit Shalev, Alice Sherwood and Erica Wagner. The prize longlist will be announced in November 2024.
Founded in 1947 as the Jewish Book Council, the Jewish Literary Foundation is today the UK’s leading platform for Jewish writing and ideas, including Jewish Book Week, London’s longest-running literary festival which has taken place each year since 1952.
‘We’re thrilled to be working with the Jewish Literary Foundation this year and excited to see the relationship grow and flourish. Collaboration has always been important to the Wingate Prize and we look forward to the opportunities it will bring to the Jewish literary sector.’ Juliet Simmons, Director, Wingate Literary Prize.
‘The Wingate Prize is a real highlight of the literary and Jewish calendars so we are thrilled to be partnering with them for the year ahead, culminating in an exciting event at Jewish Book Week in March.’ Claudia Rubenstein, Director, Jewish Literary Foundation.
Press information
Wingate Prize – Anna Pallai – anna@ampliterary.co.uk
Jewish Literary Foundation – Tom Ryan – tomryancommunications@gmail.com
Social media
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@the_wingate_prize + @jewishliteraryfoundation
Notes to editors
The Wingate Literary Prize was established in 1977 by the late Harold Hyam Wingate. The winner receives £4,000.
The Harold Hyam Wingate Charitable Foundation is a private grant-giving institution, established over forty years ago.
The Jewish Literary Foundation works to spread awareness, recognition and enjoyment of the best in ideas and great Jewish writing to as wide an audience as possible, including the annual Book Week festival, an emerging writers programme, a schools’ programme, a translation prize, year-round events and a free digital platform with 1,000 hours of video content.
Judges’ Biographies for 2024/2025
Keiron Pim is the author of two biographies, Endless Flight: the Life of Joseph Roth (Granta, 2022) and Jumpin’ Jack Flash: David Litvinoff and the Rock’n’Roll Underworld (Jonathan Cape, 2016). He has taught non-fiction writing at the University of East Anglia and the National Centre for Writing, and written for the Guardian, Daily Telegraph and London Review of Books. He lives in north Norfolk with his wife and three daughters.
Rabbi Zahavit Shalev is a rabbi at New North London Synagogue. She was ordained by Leo Baeck College in 2019, and wrote her rabbinic thesis on sleep. Reading and sleeping are both equally important to her.
Alice Sherwood Alice Sherwood is a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at The Policy Institute at King’s College London and author of the award-wining Authenticity: Reclaiming Reality in a Counterfeit Culture (Harper Collins, 2022). She has served as a trustee of the London Library and the Hay Festival Foundation. She lives in London and Wales.
Erica Wagner’s latest book is Mary and Mr Eliot: A Sort Of Love Story. She was the literary editor of the London Times for seventeen years and is a contributing writer for the New Statesman and consulting literary editor for Harper’s Bazaar; she is on the Board of Directors of Creatd, Inc. She is the author of Chief Engineer: Washington Roebling, The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge, winner of the Eccles Centre and Hay Festival Writer’s Award; her other books are Ariel’s Gift, Seizure, Gravity and she is the editor of First Light, a celebration of the work of Alan Garner. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2023.