Winner 2025: Robert Harris
Robert Harris is the author of sixteen bestselling novels: the Cicero Trilogy – Imperium, Lustrum and Dictator – Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, The Ghost, The Fear Index, An Officer and a Spy (which won four prizes including the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction), Conclave, Munich, The Second Sleep, V2, Act of Oblivion and Precipice. His work has been translated into forty languages and nine of his books have been adapted for cinema and television. He lives in West Berkshire with his wife, Gill Hornby.
“I keep a quotation on my desk from Evelyn Waugh: “It cannot be said too often or too loudly – that all Art is the art of pleasing.” I don’t think Waugh meant by this that all novels must have happy endings – most of his don’t – but that they should stimulate, engross, entertain and generally engage the reader from beginning to end. That is not an easy task, but it has been my overriding ambition. It is therefore a particular honour to be given this wonderfully-conceived prize, that aims to celebrate the delight of reading, and to join such an impressive list of previous winners.” Robert Harris
“Robert Harris is one of Britain’s most deeply and repeatedly engaging novelists, known for his strong storytelling, sharp eye for history and canny take on politics. His breakthrough book, Fatherland, imagined a chillingly plausible world in which Nazi Germany had won the war, and set the tone for a career marked by fiction that has been consistently intelligent and driven by an ever-alert ear for suspense. From the intrigues of Ancient Rome in the Cicero Trilogy to the Dreyfus affair in An Officer and a Spy, Harris has a talent for turning complex historical events into page-turning narratives. His journalism taught him clarity and his political engagement subtlety. Nothing is more enticing than sitting down with a new Robert Harris to hand and opening that first inviting page.” Pleasure of Reading Prize Judges
The Pleasure of Reading Prize 2025 will be shared between Robert Harris and the Give a Book project of his choice.
Photo Credit: Nick Gregan
The Pleasure of Reading Prize Judges 2025:
- Lady Antonia Fraser, CH, DBE, writer and biographer (Chair)
- Sigrid Rausing, philanthropist, anthropologist and publisher
- James Naughtie, writer and special correspondent
- Adam Nicolson, author and The Pleasure of Reading Prize Winner 2024
- Harriet Constable, journalist, filmmaker and writer
- Victoria Gray, Executive Director of Give a Book (Secretary)
