The Wolf

The Wolf has won the prestigious Mountbatten Maritime Award. The award is named after the British Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten and honours a book which has made the best literary contribution to maritime issues. The win was announced on October 28 at a dinner in London hosted by the Maritime Foundation. Countess Mountbatten of Burma presented the award to authors Richard Guilliatt and Peter Hohnen.

In selecting The Wolf as the winner, the judges described the book as “a masterpiece of literary writing enhanced by meticulous research. An emotionally charged, thrilling and remarkable story brought into shocking relief by the ship’s deadly purpose”.

The Wolf has been shortlisted for the prestigious 2010 Colin Roderick Award. The award is given annually by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies for a work of the highest literary merit dealing with an aspect of Australian life. The Wolf was one of only three non-fiction titles to be shortlisted, with the judges commending the book as a “suspense-filled story” which brings history to life. The winner will be announced at the Foundation’s annual dinner on November 4.

The Wolf was published in the United States on April 20 by Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. The Wall Street Journal newspaper published a full page extract in its weekend edition.

The Wolf was shortlisted in the 2010 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards. The book was nominated for the Douglas Stewart Prize For Non-Fiction.

In choosing The Wolf as one of six titles to be shortlisted for the prize, the judges commended the book as “that rare treat: a ripping yarn that is also an important contribution to World War One history.”

The NSW Premier’s Literary Awards have been held annually since 1979 and are the most established state government literary awards in Australia. The Douglas Stewart Prize For Non-Fiction carries a prize of A$40,000.

The sunken wreck of the passenger ship S.S. Wimmera, which struck the Wolf‘s minefield off New Zealand in 1918, has reportedly been found. The wreckage was discovered on March 19 by a team using underwater sonar off the country’s northernmost tip.

The team that located the wreck, Mike Hodson and Keith Gordon, have photographed it using a remote camera device in 90 metres of water. Read about their discovery here.

Twenty-six people drowned, two of them children, when the Wimmera struck a mine while sailing to Auckland in June 1918. The tragedy was blamed at the time on the ship’s captain, but archival evidence uncovered in The Wolf suggests it was largely a result of the incompetence and intransigence of local navy officials.

The Wolf has been named the best Australian non-fiction book of 2009 by The Week magazine. The award was made in the December 24 issue of the magazine’s Australian edition.

The Week is an award-winning weekly compendium of news and media published in Britain, the United States and Australia.

Click here to see.

Australian author and broadcaster David Marr interviewed Richard Guilliatt on ABC Classic FM in late September, calling ‘The Wolf’ an “extraordinary book”.

The Wolf was one of the best-selling non-fiction books in Australia on its release, according to Nielsen Bookscan. The book reached Number 6 on the non-fiction list.

Excerpts of reviews following the Australian release of The Wolf, including from the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Weekend Australian, are available on the Reviews page, linked to the full text.

If you review the book, email us the text or a link and we’ll add to this page, with a link and credit.

Richard and Peter were interviewed together by Richard Fidler for his ABC Radio program The Conversation Hour.

Click here to listen to the interview or download it to your computer.