Hanif Abdurraqib won the 2021 Gordon Burn Prize, which honors literature that is "fearless in both ambition and execution" and "dazzlingly bold and forward-thinking," for his essay collection A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance (Random House). He receives £5,000 (about $6,805) and a writing retreat at Gordon Burn's cottage in the Scottish Borders.
Judge Denise Mina praised the book's "verve and style, taking unexpected turns and focus to illuminate the artistic experience of Black culture in America" and said it "is simultaneously a joyous celebration and a crushing reproach."
Fellow judge Sian Cain said A Little Devil in America was "as uplifting, devastating, informative and profound a work of nonfiction as I can remember reading.... If a group of readers was looking for a graceful word on Blackness, on music, on comedy, on dance, on performance, on maleness, on joy, on despair, on beauty, they could all be handed a copy of Abdurraqib's book and find it. I hope this win means more people pick it up and come to appreciate what a wonderful work of cultural criticism and memoir it is."
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The T.S. Eliot Foundation released the shortlist for the 2021 T.S. Eliot Prize, honoring "the best new collection of poetry published in the U.K. or Ireland." The winning poet receives £25,000 (about $34,020) and the shortlisted poets each get £1,500 (about $2,040). This year's shortlisted titles are:
All the Names Given by Raymond Antrobus
A Blood Condition by Kayo Chingonyi
Men Who Feed Pigeons by Selima Hill
Eat or We Both Starve by Victoria Kennefick
The Kids by Hannah Lowe
Ransom by Michael Symmons Roberts
single window by Daniel Sluman
C+nto & Othered Poems by Joelle Taylor
A Year in the New Life by Jack Underwood
Stones by Kevin Young