Kingsolver, O’Farrell among Women’s Prize fiction finalists

By Jill Lawless, The Associated Press on April 26, 2023.

LONDON (AP) – An Appalachian update on Charles Dickens and a tale told by a dolphin are among the six finalists announced Wednesday for the prestigious Women’s Prize for Fiction.

American writer Barbara Kingsolver’s “Demon Copperhead,” a reworking of “David Copperfield” set in modern-day Virginia, and U.K. novelist Laline Paull’s deep-sea drama “Pod” are among the contenders for the 30,000 pound ($37,000) award.

Kingsolver previously won the Women’s Prize in 2010 for “The Lacuna.” Britain’s Maggie O’Farrell, who won in 2020 for “Hamnet,” is a finalist again for Italian Renaissance tale “The Marriage Portrait.”

The finalists also include three debut novels: “Trespasses,” a love story by Irish writer Louise Kennedy that is set during Northern Ireland’s years of violence; “Fire Rush,” a dub reggae-drenched coming-of-age tale by Britain’s Jacqueline Crooks; and Sarajevo-set war saga “Black Butterflies” by Britain’s Priscilla Morris.

Broadcast journalist Louise Minchin, who is chairing the panel of judges, said the six finalists had an “amazing” imaginative scope.

“You’ve got 16th-century Florence, you’ve got the Indian Ocean told from the point of view of the creatures that live in it,” she said.

Minchin said that by giving personal voices to the opioid crisis in America, the siege of Sarajevo, late-1970s London riots and Northern Ireland’s conflict, other books on the list take readers behind the headlines in a way that is “very insightful and very moving.”

Founded in 1996, the prize is open to female English-language writers from any country. Previous winners include Zadie Smith, Tayari Jones and Susanna Clarke. Last year’s prize went to Canadian-American novelist Ruth Ozeki for “The Book of Form and Emptiness.”

The winner of the 2023 Women’s Prize will be unveiled June 14 at a ceremony in London.

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