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For The Independent, Arifa Akbar reviews Andrew Williams' Orwell Prize winning book: A Very British Killing.

In a perfect summing up Akbar writes:

What to do after reading it? Some might put the book away and try to forget to about it, the way you would a bad dream. Others will feel changed by the awareness. A few will channel their feelings into action. There can't be any better definition of political writing at its most excellent.

To read more about the book, click here. To read the full review, click here.

Centre Director Andrew Williams has been announced as the winner of the Orwell Prize 2013, for his book "A Very British Killing", which investigates the killing of hotel receptionist Baha Mousa by British soldiers in Iraq. The judging panel stated:

He dissects and analyses with a clear-eyed determination to unpick the lies from the truths of this case, yet, for all its forensic detail, the book grips us emotionally, and has as keen a sense of storytelling as a horror story or courtroom drama. Ultimately, the greatest achievement of this incendiary, eloquent and angry book is that it humanises Mousa beyond the iconic and infamous figure he has become in his death. It was written in the spirit of Orwell's journalism.

Williams joins former winners of the prize including Francis Wheen, Fergal Keane and Tom Bingham

To read coverage of the prize click here

In an article for the Guardian, Orwell prize-shortlisted author Andrew Williams writes on why he felt compelled to spend years investigating the death of an Iraqi civilian in a British army base in Basra in 2003.

Andrew comments,

legally it was "interesting" but then I saw the postmortem report and photographs of Baha Mousa. I can still feel the shock. They were visceral confirmation that this wasn't just an "interesting" legal case. How could that have happened?

Investigating this question provided the shocking story behind Andrew's shortlisted book: A Very British Killing

Read the full article here