My Fourth Time, We Drowned

"My Fourth Time, We Drowned by Irish journalist Sally Hayden was a clear winner this year in the politics category. It’s about the awful things going on in the migration route from North Africa to Europe, and what a bad job the EU and international organizations are doing in protecting very vulnerable people. The tragic situation in the Sahara desert and the Mediterranean is truly horrifying, and although there is no easy solution, this is a major failing of our age. The book won both the Orwell Prize for Political Writing , as well as the British Academy Book Prize , which focuses on books that enhance ‘global cultural understanding.’"

"Much as I love escaping to the past, it’s irresponsible to ignore the present, and probably the most important and touching book I’ve read this year is My Fourth Time, We Drowned by Irish journalist Sally Hayden . This is the story of refugees trying to get from countries in Africa to Europe, and what they go through. It’s horrific and nobody comes out looking good, least of all us citizens of Europe, who have allowed terrible things to go on in our name. The book is particularly poignant for me as there is quite a bit on what’s happening in Eritrea, a country I was staying in when it became independent in 1993 when the future was full of hope. Also important to be aware of is what’s going on in China’s Xinjiang province. No Escape by Nury Turkel is the memoir of a Uyghur (now American) human rights lawyer and tells the story through his eyes."

"Yes. The subtitle is ‘seeking refuge on the world’s deadliest migration route’—that being the route from North Africa, across the Mediterranean, to Europe. All the books on the shortlist have a topicality and the ways in which they are topical are very varied and interesting. This is a book about events that are unfolding right now, as we’re speaking. We know they’re happening, but somehow we manage to push them away and not think about them. But migration is one of the huge issues of our time and this book really makes you feel it. It’s astonishing. The reportage really brings home—again, through individual human stories—the plight of people and the reasons they’re making these terrifying bids to cross to safety. It’s just stunning and it has a real urgency. You feel these events unfolding as you read it. I was very struck by something that Sally Hayden says in her afterword about trying to get the book published. Certain agents said it didn’t have a narrative heart or wasn’t polemical enough. It made me, personally, really want to champion the book. She’s a young journalist who is focusing on humanitarian crises and it’s a book that we all urgently need to read. They do. In that sense, it is a bit of an exposé. It really shows the ineptitude and how Europe is turning its back on these people. But that’s just not possible, because this is not going to stop anytime soon."