Naomi Klein has won the inaugural Warwick Prize for Writing.
Klein won for her much-praised lefty tome The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (Knopf Canada). Chair judge China Mieville called it "a brilliant, provocative, outstandingly written investigation into some of the great outrages of our time. It has started many debates, and will start many more..."
The new prize, handed out every two years, is funded and administrated by the University of Warwick. It is "an international, cross-disciplinary award open to any genre of form of writing," according to the university.
The award comes with a cheque for 50,000 U.K. pounds and the chance to do a short placement at the university.
Klein, born in Montreal and now living in Toronto, has become an internationally recognized left-wing thinker and activist thanks to Shock Doctrine and her earlier book, No Logo.
