The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, the most prestigious award dedicated to recognizing literary works by female authors, has announced its shortlist. Three of the novels to make the cut are from veteran writers: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah, Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch, and Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland. The other half of the shortlist are debut works: Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites, Audrey Magee’s The Undertaking and Eimear McBride’s A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing.
Since 1996, the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, formerly known as the Orange Prize for Fiction, has awarded “excellence, originality and accessibility in women’s writing from throughout the world.”
As previously reported by Women and Hollywood, the 2014 panel includes three new judges: bestselling author Caitlin Moran (How to Be a Woman), Cambridge classicist Mary Beard, and BBC journalist Sophie Raworth. The other panelists are crime novelist Denise Mina (Gods and Beasts) and Helen Fraser, Chief Executive of Girls’ Day School Trust, a network of female-only schools.
The winner of the Women’s Prize, who will receive a cash prize of 30,000 pounds (about $50,000) and a bronze sculpture named Bessie, will be announced June 4.
[h/t The Guardian]
Previously: Hunger Games Producer Nina Jacobson to Adapt Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch
