Daniel Finkelstein scoops £2.5k Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize

Daniel Finkelstein has won the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize 2023 for Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad (William Collins). 

The prize awards £2,500 to the best first biography published each year and was announced on Tuesday (19th March) at a celebration in Maggs Bros booksellers in London. This is the 10th year that Slightly Foxed has sponsored the prize and the judging panel included Philip Eade, Sue Gaisford and Clare Mulley. 

Journalist and author Finkelstein won for his family memoir, Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad (William Collins), against a five-strong shortlist announced in January.

Finkelstein said of his win: “My family believe deeply in the relationship between truth and liberty. So literary endeavours have a big role to play in protecting freedom. I accept this award on behalf of my family, all who suffered with them and all who sacrificed to set them free. I am honoured to receive such a distinguished award.”

Mulley commented: “This is an important, powerful and humane account of one family surviving the criminal, murderous policies of both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, and of one man’s prescience in cataloguing Nazi crimes. Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad is a masterclass in biography.”