An Australian author has delayed receiving his prize money from winning a prestigious literary award after criticising the sponsor.
Prominent 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 didn’t accept the award in person as he is currently on a trek through the Tasmanian wilderness.
In a pre-recorded acceptance speech, Flanagan announced that he will postpone accepting the prize money until the sponsor, UK-based investment management company Baillie Gifford, commits to increasing its investments in renewable energy and puts forward a clear plan to reduce its investments in fossil fuels.
‘On that day, I will be grateful not only for this generous gift, but for the knowledge that by coming together in good faith, with respect and goodwill, it remains possible yet to make this world better,’ Mr Flanagan said.
‘As each of us is guilty, each of us too bears 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 on his own country.
Flanagan told The Guardian: ‘I don’t see Baillie Gifford as the enemy.
‘I think their support of literature has been well meant. It’s an offer to come together and to remind each other of what’s possible.’
He said he is not taking a stance from a position of moral superiority.
‘Because we’re all complicit: I fly in planes, I drive a car, I live surrounded by plastic and I think these matters are extraordinarily complex,’ Flanagan explained.
‘But I can’t write a book such as Question 7, which in part deals with the catastrophe of climate, with the destruction and vanishing of the world I love, and not mention it and not act upon it.’
Baillie Gifford has sponsored the prize since 2016, but has faced recent criticism for investing in companies linked to Israel and in fossil fuels.
After protests earlier this year, Baillie Gifford withdrew sponsorship of nine literary festivals in the UK, including the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
Flanagan’s novels have received numerous honours and are published in 42 countries.
He won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for in 2014.
