Runciman Award judges unveil 2024 shortlist
The judging panel for the Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award, presented annually for a book about Greece, has finalized the shortlist for the 2024 competition. Out of their long list of 24 books announced in January, the judges have selected seven books for their short list.
The shortlisted books are as follows:
- “Living for Pleasure: An Epicurean Guide to Life” by Emily A. Austin (OUP)
- “Alexandria: The City That Changed the World” by Islam Issa (Sceptre – Hodder & Stoughton)
- “The Grid” by Eli Payne Mandel (Carcanet)
- “How To Be: Life Lessons from the Early Greeks” by Adam Nicolson (Harper Collins)
- “Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint” by Peter Sarris (John Murray)
- “Greekling” by Kostya Tsolakis (Nine Arches)
- “The Iliad” by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson (W.W. Norton & Co.)
The judges for the 2024 award include Professor Judith Mossman (chair), Dr Vassiliki Kolocotroni, Professor Ingela Nilsson, Dr Oliver Thomas and Dr Sofka Zinovieff.
“We had an extremely varied and stimulating long list from which to choose, which enabled us, after much discussion, to select one of our most varied shortlists of the last few years, ranging in subject matter over many centuries, from the beginnings of Greek literature and philosophy through to the Byzantine era and thence right up to our own day; and in terms of genre from scholarly biography, diachronic history and popular philosophy to poetry and poetic translation,” Mossman said in a statement.
“We are very excited about all the shortlisted works,” she added.
The ceremony for the 2024 award will take place in the Great Hall of King’s College London and will be livestreamed via Zoom on Monday, June 17, at 7 p.m. Details regarding the event and how to register for it will be announced in early May.
The Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award, established in 1986, is sponsored by the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation and the A.G. Leventis Foundation. The winner will receive a prize of £10,000.
