The shortlist for the Orange Prize was announced yesterday at the London Book Fair. Sadly, Preeta's name is not there - but being longlisted for one of the most important literary prizes internationally is great recognition for a first novel.The great surprise of the list is that Toni Morrison (who some of you saw as a dead cert) didn't make it either!
Three of the shortlisted authors are American though Ellen Feldman who is nominated for her third novel Scottsboro, Samantha Hunt for The Invention of Everything Else and Marilynne Robinson for her third novel, Home.
The others shortlisted are the British authors Samantha Harvey for The Wilderness, and Kamila Shamsie for Burnt Shadows; and Irish author Deirdre Madden (the only author to have been previously shortlisted for the prize twice) for Molly Fox's Birthday.
Said Fi Glover, Chair of Judges:
Choosing just six was far harder than I had imagined, but we all left the judging room proud of the list we have chosen.More about the books and each of the authors on the prize website. The winner will be announced on 3rd June.
2 comments:
But Toni Morrison's A Mercy is still my best read so far this year. It's going to be hard to top that.
It just goes to show book prizes are still "human" - can't trust them 100% to showcase what we think are good.
It's subjective, isn't it?
Like beauty, yes.
Post a Comment