The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the UK’s most prestigious annual book award celebrating and honouring fiction by women, has announced six books that have made its 2020 shortlist. Now in its 25th year, the Prize celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in writing by women in English from throughout the world.
The shortlist
- Dominicana by Angie Cruz
- Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
- A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
- The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel
- Hamnet by Maggie O’ Farrell
- Weather by Jenny Offill
This year’s list features one previously shortlisted author (Hilary Mantel, who has been shortlisted three times, for Beyond Black, Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies). Bernardine Evaristo won the Orange Prize Youth Panel award in 2009, for her novel Blonde Roots.
25 years of the Women’s Prize for Fiction
2020 marks the Women’s Prize for Fiction’s 25th anniversary and the Prize is celebrating the milestone with a number of flagship campaigns including #ReadingWomen, a digital book club encouraging readers to take on the challenge of reading each of the previous Women’s Prize winning novels. The challenge hopes to offer the reading nation a source of comfort during lockdown and will culminate in the autumn, when the ‘Winner of Winners’ will be chosen in a public vote. The Prize has also launched a new series of its acclaimed podcast.
2020 chair of the judges Martha Lane Fox will be joined by Women’s Prize Founder Director Kate Mosse on 6th May, via Zoom, for a deep dive into the six shortlisted books and a behind-the-scenes look at the judging process. Audience members are invited to submit questions to Martha and Kate in advance through the Women’s Prize for Fiction social channels. For details, visit the Women’s Prize for Fiction website or @WomensPrize on Twitter or Instagram.
Shortlist readings
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s Shortlist Readings have been postponed and will now be held at the Southbank Centre on Tuesday 8th September 2020. Tickets can be purchased from the Southbank Centre website from 27th April.
Winner announcement
The 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction Awards Ceremony and winner announcement has also been rescheduled and will take place on 9th September 2020, at an awards ceremony in central London.
Download materials
Digital display materials are available for libraries and bookshops to download to support and promote the shortlist.
Get involved
What do you think of the 2020 shortlisted titles? Which have you read and what will be added to your TBR pile? Add your comments below, or click any title above to leave a review.
Remind yourself of the longlist.
Share your thoughts with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using #WomensPrize. Keep up with all the latest news on the Women’s Prize website.
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