In 1947, Elisabeth Åsbrink, previous winner of the August Prize, intertwines global events with key moments from her personal history as the daughter of a Hungarian survivor. This was the year when Orwell commenced 1984, Israel was about to be born and Dior created the New Look.

Writer and global analyst Jonathan Fenby’s forthcoming book Crucible: Twelve Months that Changed the World Forever turns the spotlight on 1948, from the beginnings of the Cold War and China’s civil war to the fall out of the creation of India and Pakistan.

Elisabeth Åsbrink is a multi-award-winning author and journalist. She is best known in the UK as the journalist who revealed the links of Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad to the Nazis. Her previous books have won the August Prize, the Danish-Swedish Cultural Fund Prize, and Poland’s Kapuscinski Award. 1947 is her fourth book in Swedish and the first of her works to be published in English. It will also be published across the world, including in Germany, Norway, Finland, Italy, Slovakia, Denmark, Australia and the USA.

Jonathan Fenby, award-winning writer, journalist, analyst and broadcaster, is Chairman China team and Managing Director, European Political Research at Trusted Sources research group. He edited the Observer from 1993-1995, and the South China Morning Post from 1995 – 1999. He has written many books on international affairs, politics and history and is an authority on China and France in particular. His recent books include Will China Dominate the 21st Century? and The History of Modern France. He is a Knight of the French Legion of Honour and the French National Order of Merit.

Marina Benjamin is a journalist, author and editor. A former arts editor of the New Statesman and deputy arts editor of the Evening Standard, she is now senior editor at Aeon magazine. She is the author of three books: Living at the End of the World, Rocket Dreams and Last Days in Babylon. Benjamin has edited two books about women’s relationship to science and contributed essays to Cultural Babbage and Zero Gravity – books that take an oblique view of key moments in scientific history.