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The Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize 2015 (£3,500) has gone to Alan Cumming for his memoir Not My Father’s Son (Canongate).
The book records what happened when an unexpected phone call from Cumming’s long-estranged father brought the pain of the past hurtling into the present, and unravelled everything he thought he knew about himself.
James Naughtie, one of the judges, said: “Alan Cumming’s Not My Father’s Son is a brilliant antidote to the celebrity memoir, because his story isn’t raw for the sake of it. The violence and mental distress of a broken family, and the strange dichotomy of his youth, are rendered with an eloquence and wit that set it apart. This is a real book.” Naughtie’s fellow judges were Damian Barr and Fiona MacCarthy.
Not My Father’s Son emerged ahead of a shortlist that also included books by Anita Anand, Michael Bundock, Lyndsey Jenkins, and Sarah Knights. Jamie Byng of Canongate accepted the prize on Alan Cumming’s behalf. Here’s Alan’s acceptance speech from the set of US drama The Good Wife.