An Australian author has delayed receiving prize money from a prestigious literary award after criticizing the sponsor.
Noted author Richard Flanagan won the prestigious Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction for his novel Question 7 and has delayed accepting the $97,000 prize.
The award was announced on Tuesday night in London, but Flanagan did not accept the award in person as he is currently on a wilderness trip to Tasmania.
In a pre-recorded acceptance speech, Flanagan announced that he will postpone accepting the prize money until the sponsor, UK-based investment management firm Baillie Gifford, commits to increasing its investments in renewable energy and presents a plan clear to reduce their investments in fossil fuels.
“On that day I will be grateful not only for this generous gift, but also for knowing that by coming together in good faith, with respect and goodwill, it is still possible to improve this world,” Mr. Flanagan said.
“As each of us is guilty, so each of us has a responsibility to act: a writer, a fund manager.”
He added that his soul would be troubled if he did not draw attention to the devastating impact of the climate crisis in his own country.
Noted author Richard Flanagan (pictured) delayed receiving prize money from a prestigious literary prize after criticizing the prize’s sponsor.
Flanagan won the prestigious Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction for his novel Question 7 and has delayed accepting the £50,000 ($97,000) prize.
Flanagan said the guardian: ‘I don’t see Baillie Gifford as the enemy.
‘I think your support for literature has been well-intentioned. “It is an offer to come together and remind each other what is possible.”
He said he is not taking a stance from a position of moral superiority.
“Because we are all complicit: I fly on airplanes, I drive a car, I live surrounded by plastic and I think these issues are extraordinarily complex,” Flanagan explained.
“But I can’t write a book like Question 7, which is partly about the climate catastrophe, about the destruction and disappearance of the world I love, and not mention it and act on it.”
“But I can’t write a book like Question 7, which is partly about the climate catastrophe, about the destruction and disappearance of the world I love, and not mention it and act on it,” Richard Flanagan (pictured). ) saying.
Baillie Gifford has sponsored the award since 2016, but has recently faced criticism for investing in companies linked to Israel and in fossil fuels.
Following protests earlier this year, Baillie Gifford withdrew sponsorship from nine literary festivals in the UK, including the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
Flanagan’s novels have received numerous honors and are published in 42 countries.
It won the prestigious Man Booker Prize in 2014.