British author Maggie O’Farrell has won the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction and is crowned the Prize’s 25th winner with her eighth novel Hamnet (Tinder Press).
Set in 1596 and inspired by the life and death of Shakespeare’s only son, Hamnet was chosen from a shortlist that included Dominicana by Angie Cruz, Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo, A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes, The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel and Weather by Jenny Offill.
In a live digital awards ceremony developed for the 25th year, the 2020 Chair of Judges Martha Lane Fox announced Maggie O’Farrell as the winner live from London, while fellow judge Paula Hawkins presented the author with the £30,000 prize and the ‘Bessie’, a limited-edition bronze figurine, in her hometown of Edinburgh.
Martha Lane Fox, Chair of Judges, said:
“The euphoria of being in the same room for the final judging meeting was quickly eclipsed by the excitement we all feel about this exceptional winner. Hamnet, while set long ago, like all truly great novels expresses something profound about the human experience that seems both extraordinarily current and at the same time, enduring."
Bea Carvalho, Fiction Buyer at Women’s Prize retail partner Waterstones, said:
“We are thrilled that the Women’s Prize judges have chosen Maggie O’Farrell’s beautiful and heartbreaking Hamnet as the prize’s 25th winner. The last year has seen some stunning fiction by women writers, and Hamnet stands out as a work of immense elegance and emotional heft. We are delighted that we will be able to share it with so many more customers as a result of this well-deserved win.”
The Women’s Prize for Fiction is the UK’s most prestigious annual book award celebrating and honouring fiction by women. Now in its 25th year, the Prize celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in writing by women in English from across the world.
The judges for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction are:
- Martha Lane Fox (Chair), businesswoman, philanthropist and public servant
- Scarlett Curtis, writer and activist
- Melanie Eusebe, co-founder of the Black British Business Awards
- Viv Groskop, author and comedian
- Paula Hawkins, international bestselling author
The 2020 Prize is supported by three sponsors:
- Baileys; the world’s bestselling cream liqueur, a longstanding sponsor of the Prize since 2013
- Fremantle; one the largest creators, producers and distributors of scripted and unscripted content in the world, who came on board as a sponsor for the 2019 Prize
- NatWest; one of the UK’s leading personal, private and business banks, part of the family of sponsors since 2018
To celebrate the Prize’s 25th anniversary, in November, readers will crown the ‘Winner of Winners’, chosen from the 25 winning novels since the Prize’s inception. You can cast your vote here.
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