Baillie Gifford Prize winner Richard Flanagan turns down £50k award over fossil fuel ties

20 November 2024, 16:16 | Updated: 20 November 2024, 16:58

The winner of an "unprecedented" literary double has said he will not accept his latest £50,000 prize until the sponsor shares a plan to reduce its "investment in fossil fuel extraction".

Richard Flanagan has been named the winner of the 2024 Baillie Gifford Prize for his memoir Question 7 - a decade after being awarded the Booker Prize for fiction, for his sixth novel, The Narrow Road To The Deep North.

The 63-year-old is the first author to win both of the prestigious prizes.

However, in his acceptance speech for the Baillie Gifford Prize, he said that while he was "grateful" for the award and did not want to criticise the investment management firm sponsors, his "soul would be troubled" if he did not speak out about the threat of climate change.

The Australian author is taking part in a trek in the Tasmanian rainforest, and so delivered his speech in a pre-recorded message which was screened at the awards ceremony in London.

"At a time of great duress for writers, Baillie Gifford's sponsorship matters, because it helps keep alive not only this prize, but literature in this country, and I thank them for that larger gift to us all," he said.

"Yet my soul would be troubled if I did not say that the very rainforests and heathlands in which I am camped tonight, unique in the world, are existentially threatened by the climate crisis."

Not speaking about "the terrifying impact fossil fuels are having on my island home... would be untrue to the spirit of my book", he added.

Baillie Gifford faced criticism earlier this year after 50 writers joined a group of climate campaigners in threatening to boycott events sponsored by the firm in 2024.

A number of book festivals and arts events pulled out of their partnerships with the company, including the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Hay Festival and Wigtown Book Festival.

In his speech, Flanagan went on to say that the "world is complex, these matters are difficult, none of us are clean, all of us are complicit", and that while Baillie Gifford's direct investment in fossil fuel extraction is "already minimal", he would like to see it reduced further.

"Major booksellers that sell my books are owned by oil companies, major publishers that publish my friends are owned by fascists and authoritarians," he said.

"No one tonight should regard my words as criticism of Baillie Gifford, but its opposite - it is belief in Baillie Gifford's good faith, and the seeking of a way forward."

The writer said he would welcome the opportunity to speak with the company's board, "both to thank them for their generosity and also to describe how fossil fuels are destroying my country".

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He continued: "I would urge Baillie Gifford to act on its own publicly stated conviction that it sees no future in hydrocarbons, by sharing with the public a plan to reduce its already minimal direct investment in fossil fuel extraction and increase its investments in renewables.

"In accepting this prize, and the prize money that goes with it, I have a small caveat, I will delay taking receipt of the money until the day that plan is announced."

In response to Flanagan's speech, a Baillie Gifford spokesman 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."

(c) Sky News 2024: Baillie Gifford Prize winner Richard Flanagan turns down £50k award over fossil fuel ties