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American writer Patrick Radden Keefe has said he will donate his £ 10,000 book prize which the sponsor has helped sell the opioid painkiller OxyContin.
Radden Keefe’s damning investigative book Empire of Pain deals with the opioid addiction crisis, focusing on the role of the Sackler family. He was one of six shortlisted authors for the award, sponsored by consultancy firm McKinsey, five of which, including himself, each received a second prize of £ 10,000.
Tweeting on “the irony” on Thursday, the New Yorker reporter and author posted a photo of himself at the Financial Times / McKinsey’s 2021 Business Book of the Year Awards ceremony at the National Gallery in London, showing a sign reading “The Sackler Room.†The Sacklers’ company Purdue Pharma has sold the painkiller OxyContin that is believed to have fueled the opioid crisis in the United States.
I am told that it was the British who invented irony, so a little 🧵 on my experience last night in London. My book on the Sacklers, Empire of Pain, was shortlisted for the FT / McKinsey Business Book of the Year award… pic.twitter.com/DnP7HiUzvm
– Patrick Radden Keefe (@praddenkeefe) December 2, 2021
In another tweet, Keefe went on to write that “if you throw a brick in the London art world, you will fall into a Sackler Room” as the family were avid supporters of art and made some generous donations. donations to many leading galleries.
What was more ironic than the ceremony held in a room next to the one named after the Sacklers, he continued, was the fact that he was shortlisted for a McKinsey & sponsored award. Company. The consulting firm previously advised the Sacklers and Purdue on how to “turbocharge” OxyContin sales, and in February it agreed to pay nearly $ 600 million in settlement for its role in the opioid crisis.
It “created some pretty charged emotions,” Keefe said. “On the one hand, it means a lot to me to see this book recognized. On the other hand, I couldn’t participate in the lovely gala dinner and at least recognize the proverbial elephant.
He chose to donate the money he received as a shortlisted author to the Odyssey House charity, which works to help people recover from drug and alcohol abuse.
The writer, who won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction in November, lost the Business Book of the Year award to Nicole Perlroth, whose winning book This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends discusses of the computer arms race.
Keefe was keen to stress that he believed the jury to be “100% independent†and not influenced by the award sponsor in any way.
