SPECIAL prize winner
Andrey Kurkov
Ukrainian writer and novelist Andrey Kurkov was awarded The Orwell Foundation’s Special Prize on the 25th June 2026, at University College London’s Bloomsbury Theatre. Lord Kim Darroch, Chair of Trustees, said:
Tonight, we are honoured to have with us the greatest living writer of his nation. As Orwell did, he writes across fiction, non-fiction and journalism. Readers across the world marvel at the beauty of his storytelling and the horrors of the war he describes. Today, people going about their daily lives in Sudan, Gaza, Myanmar and many more besides – are sadly familiar with the realities of war. And so too, of course, are our European neighbours in Ukraine.
Nobody has documented their daily struggle – and the resilience, humour and togetherness emerging from it – as well as Andrey Kurkov. Alongside his diaries and essays, his novels – from the brilliant Death and the Penguin to his recent trilogy set in pre-Revolutionary Kyiv – constitute one of the finest bodies of work in contemporary literature. Orwell’s warnings against the dangers of totalitarianism and war read today as though they were written yesterday. Similarly, we believe Andrey’s books and journalism will endure.”