We are delighted to share the news that historian and literary scholar, Lauren Working, is one of seven writers shortlisted for The Eccles Institute & Hay Festival Global Writer’s Award for her book A Golden World. With the £20,000 prize now in its 14th year, the award is given annually to two writers in the early stages of a new book relating to the Americas. Thanks to the support of the Charlotte Aitken Trust the remaining shortlisted projects will be awarded £2,500 to facilitate access to the Library’s collections.
A Golden World will trace the transatlantic journeys and histories of flora, fauna and cultural artefacts to explore the influence of the Americas on Tudor and Stuart culture. UK & Commonwealth rights were acquired by Faber after a competitive seven-way auction who described the work as a ‘perspective shifting history of the Renaissance’. The book will also be published by Pegasus in the US.
The award judges said: “We loved this unexpected and original take on understanding the Renaissance and its connections with the Americas through the material culture of the time. A deep history grounded in rich archival evidence, A Golden World promises to tell a new story about the Americas and early modern England as inextricably connected in complicated ways.”
