The US author wins with her debut collection of short stories

To Be a Man, the first anthology of short stories by Nicole Krauss, has won this year’s Wingate Literary Prize. The 10 visceral stories were written over an 18-year period and span continents, focusing on the similarities that connect us as human beings, as well as the tightropes we tread in life between restraint and freedom, as well as the past and future.

“It is a contemporary and beautiful piece of writing,” said Rabbi Joseph Dweck, senior rabbi of the S&P Sephardi Community UK, who was a member of the judging panel. “In each story the themes emerged organically and we particularly admired the fact that the subject matter supported the literature rather than the literature being subordinate to it – a testament to Krauss’s special talent as a writer.”

The rest of the judging panel comprised Stephen Bush, political editor at the New Statesman; award-winning novelist MJ Hyland; and Jemma Wayne, a journalist and longlisted writer for the Women’s Prize. Krauss’s collection was chosen from a shortlist that included Ethel Rosenberg: A Cold War Tragedy by Anne Sebba – who joined the JR Book Club in 2021 to discuss the trial of the Rosenbergs (watch here) – plus At Night’s End by Nir Baram (translated by Jessica Cohen); Letters to Camondo by Edmund de Waal; Judaism for the World by Arthur Green; The Ravine by Wendy Lower; and The Last Interview by Eshkol Nevo (translated by Sondra Silverston).

Established in 1977, the annual Wingate Literary Prize – worth £4,000 and run in association with JW3 – is the only UK literary award to recognise authors and writings that translate the idea of Jewishness to the general reader.

“I am so honoured to receive the prize this year,” Krauss commented. “At a time when antisemitism is on the rise everywhere, a dedication to Jewish themes and a deep engagement with the question of what it means to be Jewish feels as important as ever.”

By Danielle Goldstein

Photo by Goni Riskin

To find out more about the Wingate Literary Prize, visit wingatefoundation.org.uk.