Lara Pawson

Lara Pawson is the author of three books. Spent Light (McNally Editions 2027/ CB editions 2024), a novel, was shortlisted in the UK for The Goldsmiths Prize 2024 and was a book of the year in Frieze, New Statesman, The Guardian and the Times Literary Supplement. It’s been translated into Dutch, Serbian and Spanish.

This is The Place to Be (CB editions 2016), a memoir, was shortlisted for the UK’s Gordon Burn Prize 2017, the Bread & Roses Award for Radical Publishing 2017 and the PEN Ackerley Prize 2017. It was a BOMB Magazine and New Statesman book of the year. Olivia Laing named it her book of the year in the TLS. It has been translated into Spanish and French.

In the Name of the People: Angola’s Forgotten Massacre (IB Tauris 2014), an investigation into a massacre, was longlisted for the Orwell Book Prize 2015 and was runner-up in in the 2014 Royal Africa Society Book of the Year, the Bread & Roses Award for Radical Publishing and the Political Book Awards Debut Political Book of the Year. It was a book of the year in The Spectator magazine. It has been translated into Portuguese.

Formerly a BBC World Service journalist, she has made numerous radio programmes and has written for many international publications on politics, literature and art. She lives in London.