Baillie Gifford prize-winner Richard Flanagan has announced he will not claim his £50,000 award money until the firm lays out a plan to reduce its investment in fossil fuels.
The Australian author was named winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction at a ceremony in London on Tuesday night for his memoir Question 7, which explores the choices we make about love and the chain reaction that follows, and the value of life.
He is the first person in history to achieve the “staggering” double of winning both the prestigious non-fiction accolade and the Booker Prize for fiction, which he scooped a decade ago for his novel The Narrow Road To The Deep North.
But at an award ceremony at BMA House in London on Tuesday, he surprised attendees with a pre-recorded message in which he said he will not collect the sizeable £50,000 prize.
He urged Baillie Gifford to “shar[e] with the public a plan to reduce its...investment in fossil fuel extraction and increase its investments in renewals”.
“I will delay taking receipt of the money until the day that plan is announced,” he said.
Investment management firm Baillie Gifford has previously come under criticism over its investment in fossil fuels.
In May this year, the renowned Hay Festival announced it was dropping the firm, its sponsor, after coming under pressure from climate campaigners Fossil Free Books. That decision sparked a passionate row about the funding of literary events and the ethics of sponsorship. Cheltenham Literary Festival and other arts events also ended partnerships with Baillie Gifford.
“The world is complex - these matters difficult,” said Flanagan in his speech on Tuesday night. “None of us are clean. All of us are complicit. Major booksellers that sell my books are owned by oil companies.”
But he added: “When we stumble, when we’re weary, it sometimes helps to have a friend to urge us on to our destination.”
“I would welcome an opportunity to speak with Baillie Gifford’s board, both to thank them for their generosity and also to describe how fossil fuels are destroying my country.”
Last year’s Baillie Gifford prize was won by John Vaillant for his book Fire Weather: A True Story From a Hotter World, which lay bare the global climate disaster by exposing the “harrowing” impact of wildfires that ravaged Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, in 2016.
Flanagan said his decision was not criticism of Baillie Gifford, “but its opposite”. “It is belief in Baillie Gifford’s good faith and the seeking of a way forward,” he said.
“Question 7 is about hope, how we must seize the day we are to live. I thank you for your prize and the great honour that goes with it, in the same spirit.”
Baillie Gifford said it looks forward to “continuing the conversation” with Flanagan.
Spokesperson Peter Singlehurst said: “Congratulations to Richard for winning the two most coveted accolades in the realm of literature. We look forward to welcoming him to Edinburgh and continuing the conversation."
Nick Thomas, a partner with Baillie Gifford, previously said the firm has “high ethical standards”, adding: “Only two per cent of our clients’ money is invested in companies with some business related to fossil fuels.”
The judges selected the 2024 winner from 349 books published between November 1 last year and October 31 this year.
Flanagan beat British shortlisted authors Rachel Clarke, for heart transplant story The Story Of A Heart, and Sue Prideaux’s artist biography Wild Thing: A Life Of Paul Gauguin to win the prize.
Other shortlisted titles were Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario; Viet Thanh Nguyen’s A Man Of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial and David Van Reybrouck Revolusi: Indonesia And The Birth Of The Modern World – with each author receiving a £5,000 prize.
Chair of judges, journalist Isabel Hilton described Question 7 as “an astonishingly accomplished meditation on memory, history, trauma, love and death – and an intricately woven exploration of the chains of consequence that frame a life”.
“In a year rich in remarkable books, Richard Flanagan’s Question 7 spoke to the judges for its outstanding literary qualities and its profound humanity,” she said.
“This compelling memoir ranges from intimate human relations to an unflinching examination of the horrors of the 20th century, reflecting on unanswerable questions that we must keep asking.”
Toby Mundy, prize director, said: “In winning the Baillie Gifford Prize 2024 with Question 7, Richard Flanagan has achieved an unprecedented double.
“No author has ever won both this prize and the Booker Prize for fiction. It is a staggering achievement, which confirms Richard Flanagan as one of the world’s most significant literary writers.”
