The PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize is awarded to the best work of non-fiction of historical content covering a period up to and including World War II, and published in the year of the award. The books are to be of high literary merit, but not primarily academic. The prize is organized by the English PEN. Marjorie Hessell-Tiltman was a member of PEN during the 1960s and 1970s; on her death in 1999 she bequeathed ã100,000 to the PEN Literary Foundation to found a prize in her name. Each year's winner receives ã2,000.
The award is one of many PEN awards sponsored by PEN International affiliates in over 145 PEN centres around the world.
Winners and shortlist
A blue ribbon () denotes the winner.
2000s
2002
2003
2004
2005
- Joachim Fest, Inside Hitler's Bunker: The Last Days of the Third Reich
- Paul Fussell, The Boys' Crusade: The American Infantry in Northwestern Europe, 1944âÂÂ1945 (joint winners)
- Mark Mazower, Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430âÂÂ1950
- Richard Overy, The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia (joint winners)
- Jonathan Phillips, The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople
2006
2007
2008
- Philipp Blom, The Vertigo Years: Change and Culture in the West 1900âÂÂ1914
- Leo Hollis, The Phoenix: St Paul's Cathedral and the Men Who Made Modern London
- Mark Mazower, Hitler's Empire: Nazi Rule in Occupied Europe
- Frederick Spotts, The Shameful Peace: How French Artists and Intellectuals Survived the Nazi Occupation
- Clair Wills, That Neutral Island: A cultural history of Ireland during the Second World War
2009
- Mark Thompson, The White War: Life & Death on the Italian Front 1915âÂÂ1919
2010s
2010
2011
- Amanda Foreman, A World on Fire: an Epic History of Two Nations Divided
- Philip Mansel, Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe in the Mediterranean
- Roger Moorhouse, Berlin at War: Life and Death in Hitler's Capital 1939âÂÂ1945
- Toby Wilkinson, The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt: the History of a Civilisation from 3000 BC to Cleopatra
2012
- Lizzie Collingham, The Taste of War: World War II and the Battle for Food
- Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe
- David Edgerton, Britain's War Machine: Weapons, Resources and Experts in the Second World War
- James Gleick, '
- Edward J. Larson, An Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton, and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science
- Adam Hochschild, To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914âÂÂ1918
2013
2014
2015
- Mark Bostridge, The Fateful Year: England 1914
- Jessie Childs, God's Traitors: Terror and Faith in Elizabethan England
- Ronald Hutton, Pagan Britain
- Robert Tombs, The English and Their History
- Jenny Uglow, In These Times: Living in Britain Through Napoleon's Wars
2016
2017
The shortlist was announced 7 June 2017. The winner was announced 10 July.
- Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails
- Jerry Brotton, This Orient Isle: Elizabethan England and the Islamic World
- Susan L. Carruthers, The Good Occupation: American Soldiers and the Hazards of Peace
- Dan Cruickshank, Spitalfields: The History of a Nation in a Handful of Streets
- Frank Dikötter, The Cultural Revolution: A People's History, 1962âÂÂ1976
- David Olusoga, '
- Tim Whitmarsh, Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World
2018
The shortlist was announced 22 March 2018. The winner was announced 24 June 2018.
2019
The winner was announced 4 December 2019.
- Edward Wilson-Lee, The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books: Young Columbus and the Quest for a Universal Library
2020s
2020
The shortlist was announced on 29 October 2020. The winner was announced on 1 December 2020.
2021
The shortlist was announced on 14 October 2021 and the winner on 7 December.
- Barbara Demick, Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town
- Chris Gosden, The History of Magic: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present
- Helen McCarthy, Double Lives: A History of Working Motherhood
- Sinclair McKay, Dresden: The Fire and the Darkness
- Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South: A New History of Revolution and Empire
- Ben Wilson, Metropolis: A History of the City, Humankind's Greatest Invention
- Rebecca Wragg Sykes, '
2022
The shortlist was announced on 7 October 2022.
2023
The shortlist was announced on Thursday, November 2nd, 2023.
- Aviah Sarah Day and Shanice Octavia McBean, Abolition Revolution (Pluto Press)
- Calum Jacobs, A New Formation: How Black Footballers Shaped the Modern Game (Merky Books)
- Philippe Sands,The Last Colony: A Tale of Exile, Justice and Britain's Colonial Legacy (Weidenfeld and Nicolson)
- Julieann Campbell,On Bloody Sunday: A New History of the Day and Its Aftermath by Those Who Were There (Monoray)
- Kojo Koram, Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of Empire (John Murray Press)
2024
The shortlist was announced on 14 November 2024.
- Caroline Dodds Pennock, On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe (W&N)
- Robert Gildea, Backbone of the Nation: Mining Communities and the Great Strike of 1984âÂÂ85 (Yale University Press)â¯
- Katja Hoyer, Beyond the Wall: East Germany 1949âÂÂ1990 (Allen Lane)â¯
- Ian Rutledge, Sea of Troubles: The European Conquest of the Islamic Mediterranean and the Origins of the First World War (Saqi Books)â¯
- Avi Shlaim, Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew (Oneworld)â¯
- Maria Smilios, The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis (Virago)â¯
See also
References
External links
- https://www.englishpen.org/prizes/pen-hessell-tiltman-prize/ â Archive & History