Free (Ypi book)

Last updated
Free: Coming of Age at the End of History
Free (Ypi book).jpg
First edition
Author Lea Ypi
Publisher Allen Lane
Publication date
28 October 2021 (2021-10-28)
Pages336 [1]
ISBN 978-0-241-48185-1

Free: Coming of Age at the End of History or Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History [2] is a 2021 book by Lea Ypi published by Penguin Books. [1] In the book, Ypi details her experience growing up before and after the fall of communism in Albania. [3]

Contents

Reception

Free was shortlisted for the 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize and the 2021 Costa Book Award for biography. [4] [5] In January 2022, BBC Radio 4 serialised the book in their Book of the Week series. [6]

Free won the Ondaatje Prize [7] , the Slightly Foxed First Biography Prize, [8] the Lumo Skëndo Prize for the Best Work in Albanian Nonfiction, [9] and the Ridenhour Book Prize for Truth Telling. [10]

10,000 copies of the book were sold in November 2021. [3]

Ed O'Loughlin praised Ypi's use of subtext in the work. [11] Critics of the book have accused it of being communist apologia, an accusation that Ypi has denied. [3]

Translations

References

  1. 1 2 "Free". Penguin Books . Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  2. ↑ Strasser, Max (2022-01-18). "What It's Like to Live Through a Rupture in History". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2025-03-31.
  3. 1 2 3 Weaver, Matthew (3 January 2022). "Author says memoir of communist Albania met with 'vicious' abuse". The Guardian . Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  4. ↑ Flood, Alison (15 October 2021). "Baillie Gifford prize reveals 'outstanding storytelling' on 2021 shortlist". The Guardian . Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  5. ↑ Flood, Alison (23 November 2021). "Costa prize 2021 shortlists highlight climate anxiety". The Guardian . Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  6. ↑ Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi. Book of the Week. BBC Radio 4. 31 January 2022. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  7. ↑ "RSL Ondaatje Prize 2022 Shortlist Announced". Royal Society of Literature. 2022-04-20. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20. Retrieved 2022-04-20.
  8. ↑ "Best First Biography Prize Archives". Slightly Foxed. Retrieved 2022-04-20.
  9. ↑ ""Free" by Lea Ypi is awarded the literary prize "Lumo Skëndo"". Tirana Post. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
  10. ↑ "Lea Ypi". Rindhour Prizes. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  11. ↑ O’Loughlin, Ed (18 December 2021). "Free by Lea Ypi: Funny, precise, accessible, serious memoir of a Stalinist childhood". The Irish Times . Retrieved 3 January 2022.


Casanova ritratto.jpg

This article about a memoir is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.