"Harry Shukman seems improbably cheerful for someone who has spent the past few years infiltrating groups of political extremists. It’s faintly unnerving hearing such a polite, thoughtful young writer describe evenings he spent in pubs with neo-Nazis, or conferences where ultra-rich guests share their plans for whites-only societies.
“Deciding to hang out with the far right was a kind of weird, weird thing to do,” he reflects, laughing. Those strange evenings form the backbone of the book that has propelled the 33-year-old writer into the literary spotlight.
Shukman’s debut, Year of the Rat: Undercover in the British Far Right has made him an unusual winner of The Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award, which he accepted on Tuesday night at a ceremony at the Whitechapel Gallery in London."
“Deciding to hang out with the far right was a kind of weird, weird thing to do,” he reflects, laughing. Those strange evenings form the backbone of the book that has propelled the 33-year-old writer into the literary spotlight.
Shukman’s debut, Year of the Rat: Undercover in the British Far Right has made him an unusual winner of The Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award, which he accepted on Tuesday night at a ceremony at the Whitechapel Gallery in London."
