Folio prize returns with nonfiction joining novels on the 2017 shortlist

The £20,000 award established as a more literary rival to the Booker has found a new sponsor and extended its reach to cover factual books

Three years after it was born from literary-world frustrations with the Man Booker prize, the Folio prize has returned, with a shortlist that has more than a little in common with other prizes this year.

The Folio prize was created in the wake of the 2011 Man Booker shortlist, when the judges controversially emphasised “readability” and a book’s ability to “zip along”, perceived by some to be at the expense of literary merit. Margaret Atwood deemed it “much needed in a world in which money is increasingly becoming the measure of all things”.

Related: Booker prize divides quality from readability, says Andrew Motion

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