Author who died after Russian missile attack awarded Orwell prize

A novelist who was killed in the Ukraine war has won the Orwell prize for political writing.

- Ella Creamer

Victoria Amelina, who died in July 2023 from injuries sustained in a Russian strike on a restaurant in Kramatorsk, won the prize with her unfinished book Looking at Women Looking at War.

The book - Amelina's only work of nonfiction - documents the resistance efforts of Ukrainian women, including a soldier, a human rights activist and a librarian. "The effect is of an ensemble of female voices, not a solo aria," wrote Charlotte Higgins in a Guardian review. The book is "an important piece of testimony and a precious, powerful work of literature: a steady beam of light born amid darkness and violence".

Amelina "brings to her narrative the acuity of a journalist and the artistry of a born writer, making her a true heir of George Orwell", said the judging chair, Kim Darroch.