Mark O’Connell wins Wellcome Book Prize 2018 for critically acclaimed debut To Be a Machine
Irish author Mark O’Connell has tonight, Monday 30 April, been awarded the 2018 Wellcome Book Prize for his extraordinary debut 'To Be a Machine: Adventures among cyborgs, utopians, hackers and the futurists solving the modest problem of death'. It is the first full-length exploration of transhumanism, a movement that seeks to cheat mortality and use technology for human evolution.
O’Connell was selected from a shortlist of six to win the prestigious £30,000 prize, which celebrates exceptional works of fiction and non-fiction that illuminate the many ways that health and medicine touch our lives. Artist and writer Edmund de Waal OBE, Chair of Judges, made the announcement at the award ceremony at Wellcome Collection, London, praising 'To Be a Machine' as a book that brings into focus timely issues about mortality, what it might mean to be a machine and what it truly means to be human.
The other titles shortlisted for the 2018 Wellcome Book Prize were: 'Stay With Me' by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, 'The Butchering Art' by Lindsey Fitzharris, 'With the End in Mind' by Kathryn Mannix, 'Mayhem: A memoir' by Sigrid Rausing and 'The Vaccine Race' by Meredith Wadman.
Edmund de Waal, Chair of Judges, commented on behalf of the judging panel: “To Be a Machine is a passionate, entertaining and cogent examination of those who would choose to live forever. Mark O’Connell brilliantly examines issues of technology and singularity. In doing so he brings into focus timely issues about mortality, what it might mean to be a machine and what it truly means to be human. This is a book that will start conversations and deepen debates. It is a wonderful winner of the Wellcome Book Prize.”
Kirty Topiwala, Publisher at Wellcome Collection and Wellcome Book Prize Manager, said: “This book is fresh, funny and disquieting. It raises profound questions about our future and challenges how we think about health and humanity. This is very much at the core of what we do at Wellcome Collection, making 'To Be A Machine' an exciting and worthy winner of this ever-diverse prize.”