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Ian Penman’s ‘glittering’ book about Fassbinder wins Ondaatje prize


The veteran music journalist’s personal study of the German film-maker wins £10,000 honour for the year’s best literary evocation of place

British writer and music critic Ian Penman has won the Royal Society of Literature’s Ondaatje prize for his study of the late German film-maker Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Penman’s book, Fassbinder: Thousands of Mirrors, was announced as the winner of the £10,000 prize – awarded to works of fiction, non-fiction or poetry that best evoke the spirit of a place – at a London ceremony on Tuesday evening. Other titles shortlisted for this year’s prize were Falling Animals by Sheila Armstrong, Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad, A Flat Place by Noreen Masud, Cuddy by Benjamin Myers and No Man’s Land by David Nash.

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