Rundell and Yousefzada scoop Slightly Foxed prize

Katherine Rundell and Osman Yousefzada have won the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize 2022, for their books Super-Infinite (Faber & Faber) and The Go Between (Canongate) respectively.

This year’s judges were publisher Alan Samson, critic Lucy Scholes and biographer Anne Sebba.

Rundell’s biography delves into the life of English poet John Donne and was described by judges as “playful, heartfelt and elegant”. Meanwhile Yousefzada’s book takes a look at the author’s own upbringing in a devout, patriarchal Pakistani family. Judges said of the title: “The magic of The Go-Between lies in Osman Yousefzada’s masterful evocation of the unknowing but ever watchful child’s eye view of the world.”

Rundell is a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. Her books for children, including Rooftoppers (Bloomsbury Children’s Books), The Explorer (Bloomsbury Children’s Books) and, most recently, The Golden Mole (Faber & Faber), have been translated into more than 30 languages and have won multiple awards. Rundell is also the author of a book for adults, Why You Should Read Children’s Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise (Bloomsbury), and has written for the London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement and the New York Times.

Yousefzada studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies and Central Saint Martins, and has an MPhil from Cambridge University. He has been showcased at the Whitechapel Gallery and the V&A among others and made clothes for Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Lupita Nyong’o among others. He edits the Collective, has written for Vogue, the Guardian and Observer, and is currently a research practitioner at the Royal College of Art and visiting fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge.

The pair join previous winners including Heather Clark, Jonathan Phillips and Bart van Es and will share a £2,500 prize thanks to sponsorship from the Biographer’s Club.