Congratulations to Professor Polly Jones, who has had her book ‘Revolution Rekindled. The Writers and Readers of Late Soviet Biography’ awarded an honourable mention from the judges, for the BASEES Women’s Forum Book Prize.
The judges' citation called it an 'authoritative book that compels attention for three substantial achievements. It is a case study of an important phenomenon in the Soviet publishing industry (the ‘Fiery Revolutionaries’ series of biographies introduced in 1968 to ‘rekindle’ post-Thaw readers’ socialist enthusiasm); a study of late Soviet reading habits; and an analysis of how Soviet publishing actually functioned. The tightly organized chapters are informed by numerous interviews with former industry insiders as well as impressively thorough archival research'
Polly says: "I'm honoured to receive this recognition from BASEES, which does so much to promote the study of Russia and Eastern Europe in the UK and abroad, and in such excellent company too!"