22nd July, 2016

Jasmine Donahaye wins Welsh Book of the Year Non-Fiction Award

Jasmine Donahaye’s powerful memoir, Losing Israel, triumphed in the Creative Non-Fiction category against strong competition.
The three titles shortlisted for the Open University in Wales Creative Non-Fiction award all, in very different ways, dealt with examining Wales’ position in the world, themes of globalisation and the significance of culture.
Wales Unchained by Daniel G. Williams (University of Wales Press) was praised for its brilliantly entertaining, scholarly prose. Woman Who Brings the Rain (New Welsh Rarebyte) by Eluned Gramich was highly regarded, ‘small but perfectly formed’. Yet it was Losing Israel by Seren author Jasmine Donahaye that scooped up the prestigious award as her ‘strange book’, a weaving-together of birdwatching, memoir, creative writing, and travel, blew the judges away.
Judge Justin Albert urged the public to go out and buy copies of all three books, saying the quality of each is such that you won’t simply be able to read them once. We concur!