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Wellcome Book Prize

Literary award

Summary

Literary award

Field	Value
name	Wellcome Book Prize
awarded_for	topics of health and medicine in literature
sponsor	Wellcome Trust
location	United Kingdom
year	2009
website	Wellcome Book Prize

Wellcome Book Prize (2009–2019 — paused) is an annual British literary award sponsored by Wellcome Trust. In keeping with the vision and goals of Wellcome Trust, the Book Prize "celebrates the topics of health and medicine in literature", including fiction and non-fiction. The winner receives £30,000 making it "one of the most remunerative literature awards on offer."

The current prize for medicine in literature was inaugurated in 2009, but there was an older award with the same name. In 1998, Wellcome Trust began offering a prize that would enable a practicing life scientist to take time off and write a science book for the general reader. Applicants would submit a book outline and sample chapter, winners would then be obligated to write and publish the book. It appears the only winner was Michael J. Morgan for The Space Between Our Ears: How the Brain Represents Visual Space (2001), before the prize (for science writing) was discontinued.

From 2009 to 2012 it was called the Wellcome Trust Book Prize. In 2013 there was no award however there were changes to the prize including an increase in prize money from £25,000 to £30,000. The timetable of key dates is longlist in February, shortlist in March and winner in May.

In 2019, the prize announced that it had "decided to take a pause and reflect". After a period of reflection, the website simply died without explanation in early 2024.

Winners and shortlisted nominees

Year	Winner	Work	Shortlisted nominees	Ref(s)	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010	2009
Will Eaves	Murmur
	To Be a Machine: Adventures Among Cyborgs, Utopians, Hackers, and the Futurists Solving the Modest Problem of Death
	Mend the Living (aka The Heart)
	It's All in Your Head: True Stories of Imaginary Illness
	The Iceberg: A Memoir
	Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity
No award
	Circulation: William Harvey, a Man in Motion
	Turn of Mind
	The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
	Keeper: Living with Nancy – A Journey into Alzheimer's

References

"About the Wellcome Trust Book Prize".
"Prize for medicine in literature." ''The Times'' (United Kingdom) [serial online]. October 11, 2012. Available from: ''Newspaper Source Plus'', Ipswich, MA. Item: 7EH1489323595. Accessed September 30, 2012.
"New medicine book prize." ''[[The Bookseller]]'' (17 October 2008), Pg. 6 (1)). Gale Document Number: GALE. A188642463
[[Frances M. Ashcroft]]. ''Life at the Extremes: The Science of Survival''. See [https://books.google.com/books?id=Nuw-IScFekMC&pg=PR15 Acknowledgments], pg.xv
(2013). "2013: No prize awarded". Wellcome Book Prize.
"The Wellcome Book Prize longlist 2019".
(21 May 2019). "Wellcome Book Prize will be taking a pause". wellcomebookprize.org.
Flood, Alison. (2019-03-19). "Wellcome prize shortlist celebrates books about masculinity and mental illness". The Guardian.
(2019-05-02). "Eaves wins 2019 Wellcome Prize for 'Murmur'".
(20 March 2018). "Shortlist revealed for Wellcome Book Prize 2018". Wellcome Book Prize.
(1 May 2018). "2018 Awards". Wellcome Book Prize.
(24 April 2017). "Maylis de Kerangal's 'Mend the Living' wins the Wellcome Book Prize 2017". wellcomebookprize.org.
Danuta Kean. (14 March 2017). "Wellcome prize shortlist announced: books that 'will change lives'". The Guardian.
(14 March 2016). "Wellcome Book Prize 2016 shortlist revealed". BBC News.
(25 April 2016). "'It's All in Your Head' by Suzanne O'Sullivan wins £30,000 Wellcome Book Prize 2016". wellcomebookprize.org.
(9 March 2015). "The Wellcome Book Prize reveals 2015 shortlist". Wellcome Trust.
(29 April 2015). "Tumour memoir wins £30,000 Wellcome book prize". [[BBC News]].
(25 February 2014). "Andrew Motion announces shortlist for the Wellcome Book Prize 2014". Wellcome Trust.
GrrlScientist. (26 February 2014). "Wellcome Trust's Book Prize 2014 shortlist announced". [[The Guardian]].
Alison Flood. (29 April 2014). "Wellcome book prize goes to Andrew Solomon's Far From the Tree". [[The Guardian]].
Charlotte Williams. (15 October 2012). "Random House gets four nods for Wellcome Trust Book Prize". The Bookseller.
(9 November 2012). "Thomas Wright wins Wellcome Book Prize". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
Joanna Bourke. (10 October 2011). "2011 Wellcome Trust Book Prize shortlist". [[The Lancet]].
"'Turn of Mind' by Alice LaPlante wins the Wellcome Trust Book Prize." (2011, Nov 10). ''Targeted News Service'' [Washington, D.C]. ProQuest document ID: 903209814
"Philip Roth's polio novel among six books shortlisted for UK medical literature prize." [[The Canadian Press]] [serial online]. November 9, 2011; Available from: ''Newspaper Source Plus'', Ipswich, MA. Accessed September 30, 2012.
"Past Prizes – 2010". Wellcome Book Prize.
"Past Prizes – 2009". Wellcome Book Prize.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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