A Scottish author will receive the Bodleian Librarie's highest honour for her work in literature.
The Bodley Medal will be presented to Ali Smith during the 2024 Oxford Literary Festival, specifically at 'The Bodley Lecture and Award of the Bodley Medal: Life and Work' event.
This honour is scheduled for March 21 at 6pm, taking place at the Sheldonian Theatre.
The Bodley Medal acknowledges significant contributions individuals have made in the areas of literature, libraries, media, communications, science, and philanthropy.
The tradition, a legacy of the 17th century, resumed in 2002 and has been bestowed on people including Peter Carey, Dame Hilary Mantel, Professor Dame Mary Beard, Sir Kazuo Ishiguro, Zadie Smith, and Colm Tóibín.
Ali Smith, hailed as ‘Scotland’s Nobel laureate-in-waiting’, is an award-winning author with numerous recognitions to her name.
Her accolades include the Goldsmith’s Prize, Orwell Prize, Costa Best Novel Award, and the Women’s Prize, and she has also been a Booker Prize nominee four times.
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Her writing portfolio includes novels, short story collections like The Accidental, Hotel World, How to be Both, and the Seasonal Quartet.
Her most recent novel, Companion Piece, switches between post-Brexit lockdown Britain and the Middle Ages, offering a look into differing times and possibilities.
Ms Smith said: "I couldn't be more amazed and delighted at the gracious Bodley Medal coming my way.
"Particularly because it comes from one of the world's greatest libraries.
"I'll keep it on my desk as a talisman.
"Libraries are the ultimate source of sources – of thought; of knowledge; of history; of art; of language's own history and process and power; of the relationship between imagination, truth and fiction; themselves they're the prime and communal source of every book."
Accompanying the awards ceremony will be a talk featuring Ms Smith and Richard Ovenden, Bodley’s Librarian.
They will discuss Ms Smith's life, inspirations and body of works.
Mr Ovenden said: "Ali Smith is an extraordinary writer. Her work considers the timely and timeless complexities of our world with a great sensitivity.
"With a fierce conviction that reading does not just change lives, but helps us to live better lives, Ali Smith is a highly appropriate recipient of the Bodley Medal."
The Oxford Literary Festival 2024, organised by the Bodleian Libraries, will host a varied programme of events highlighting the collections and exhibitions of the libraries.
The libraries will offer literary walking tours of the city, showcase Shakespeare’s First Folio and host talks from curators of Write Cut Rewrite and Chaucer: Here and Now.
Further details can be found on their website and advance booking is required for all events, with tickets now available on the festival's website.
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