News: New award from the Wellcome Trust celebrates medicine in literature
The Wellcome Trust has announced a major new book prize for outstanding works of fiction and non-fiction on the theme of health, illness or medicine. The £25,000 annual award is the first of its kind to bring together the traditionally diverse fields of medicine and literature.
Comedienne and former psychiatric nurse Jo Brand will act as chair of the 2009 judging panel, which includes BBC science journalist Quentin Cooper, Welsh poet and non-fiction writer Gwyneth Lewis, physician and author Raymond Tallis and professor of medicine in the arts, Brian Hurwitz.
The 2009 shortlist of six works will be announced at The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival in October 2009, and a winner will be announced at an awards ceremony to be held at Wellcome Collection in early November 2009.