Through its screen she saw horrors that Europe was intent on ignoring, disappearing photos and videos from disappearing people. “What is it like,” she reflects, “to watch innocent people being shot through Facebook Messenger?” Jarring messages interject in Hayden’s text the way they must have flashed as notifications on her phone. “They are beating and shooting us. There’s no food, no water. The children are crying, starving. Please.” Two Irish writers have won Britain’s leading prizes for political writing - one for a novel about a man taking a moral stand against a Magdalene laundry; the other for her book about the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean.

Claire Keegan accepts the 2022 Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year prize, one of the most prestigious prizes in Irish literature, worth €20,000, last month at Listowel Writers' Week Sally Hayden is an award-winning journalist and photographer currently focused on migration, conflict and humanitarian crises. Little official help came. “I used to be afraid of smugglers in Libya,” said one refugee; “now I’m afraid of organisations that claim humanity.” Hayden’s meticulous and humane reporting is particularly scathing of the actions of the UNHCR and its UN partner, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). She reveals deep corruption, arrogance and inhumanity. Kafka retold… Read this great book shedding light on a monstrous crime.” — John Sweeney, author of ‘Hunting Ghislaine’ Irish journalist Sally Hayden describes one of the great tragedies of our era, the story of the thousands of refugees bent on starting new lives in the West, who instead spend years rotting in Sudanese refugee camps, trappedin Libyan prisons, clinging to sinking dinghies in the Mediterranean. Her harrowing portrait captures the voices of theEritreans, Somalis, Ethiopians, Gambians and Sierra Leoneans caught up in this pitiless modern slave trade, whoconstantly remind us that the desire to better yourself is the most fundamental of human impulses. This is a remarkable and important book.” — MichelaWrong, author of ‘Do Not Disturb’

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A wrenching account of what people will endure in search of a better life.” – The Washington Independent Review of Books Finalist for the New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism. The evidence [presented] in My Fourth Time, We Drownedis overwhelming. The facts argue for a more urgent and humane migrant policy. — Washington Independent Review of Books

A powerfully written amalgamation of narrative nonfiction and investigative journalism, My Fourth Time We Drownedis compelling reading for a wide audience.”— Mail & Guardian My Fourth Time, We Drowned casts light on a dark world that would be only too visible if we cared to look. These are stories that should be heard by everyone. The judges for The Orwell Prize for Journalism 2022 were Isabel Hilton (chair), journalist and founder of China Dialogue, Helen Hawkins, ex-culture editor at The Times, Marcus Ryder, Head of External Consultancies at the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity and chair of RADA, and Sameer Padania, author and independent journalism consultant. Isabel Hilton said:Maar nu gaan dezelfde akkoorden met Tunesië, wat een buurland van Libië is, gesloten worden met waarschijnlijk exact dezelfde resultaten, dat kan je uit dit verhaal al afleiden. My Fourth Time, We Drowned casts light on a dark world that would be only too visible if we cared to look. These are stories that should be heard by everyone.” — Geographical