Duff Cooper’s bookplate,
designed by Rex Whistler
The Duff Cooper Prize
Since 2005 we have been generously supported by
which donates the Champagne for the award presentation,
and contributes £1000 towards the £5,000 prize.
Press Release
The 55th Duff Cooper Prize was hosted last night at the residence of H.E. Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, who was represented by his Chargé d'affaires, M. Jean-Claude Poimboeuf. Andrew Marr presented the £5,000 prize to Sarah Bakewell, for her book How to Live: A life of Montaigne. He also pointed out that each of the shortlisted books - which included Edmund de Waal's The Hare with Amber Eyes and Life by Keith Richards and James Fox - 'took biography in a new direction'.
The event was celebrated with Pol Roger Champagne, and among the broadcasters, publishers and writers present were Sebastain Faulks, Edmund de Waal, Lyndall Gordon, Alexandra Harris, James Fox, Amanda Ross, David Gilmour, Antony Beevor, Ed Victor, Jenny Uglow, Jung Chang, Dan Franklin, Jacqueline Wilson DBE, Victoria Hislop, Colin Thubron, and Duff Cooper's son, John Julius Norwich.
Left: Artemis Cooper, Administrator of the Duff Cooper Prize.
Center: M. Jean-Claude Poimboeuf, the French Chargé d'affaires.
Right: The winner, Sarah Bakewell