Academic and journalist Andrew Solomon has been announced as the winner of this year’s Wellcome Guide Prize for Far From the Tree: Dad and mom, Youngsters and the Search for Identity. The book, for which Solomon interviewed much more than 300 households above the course of a decade, explores the exclusive parent-youngster romantic relationship and how it is impacted by “distinction” this kind of as deafness, autism or homosexuality.
Solomon’s entry noticed off five other shortlisted books to get the £30,000 prize, awarded for the best new perform of fiction or non-fiction in the health care and well being genre. Sir Andrew Motion, who chaired the judging panel, mentioned the decision was unanimous, adding: “The guide took him 10 years to write, and the positive aspects of his persistence and thoughtfulness are evident everywhere.”
Motion presented Solomon with his prize funds and a trophy, consisting of several sheets of glass depicting MRI scans, at a ceremony at the Wellcome Collection in London on Thursday evening.
Solomon dedicated the award to the families whose stories characteristic in the guide: “I accept this prize on their behalf, with admiration for the human spirit that allowed so a lot of of them to end up grateful for lives they would after have carried out anything at all to avoid.”
Andrew Solomon wins Wellcome Book Prize 2014
