The Women’s Prize for Fiction has unveiled its shortlist, with six authors contending for the annual award given to “the best full-length novel of the year written in English and published in the United Kingdom.”
Elizabeth Strout made this year’s shortlist for Tell Me Everything, her latest novel featuring the characters Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge. Strout was previously shortlisted for the prize in 2000 for Amy and Isabelle and longlisted for her novels The Burgess Boysand My Name Is Lucy Barton.
Miranda July was named a finalist for All Fours; the novel was previously a finalist for the National Book Award and is being developed as a television series for the network Starz. Yael van der Wouden was shortlisted for The Safekeep, which was also a finalist for the Booker Prize.
Van der Wouden was one of four debut novelists to make the shortlist, alongside Aria Aber for Good Girl, Sanam Mahloudji for The Persians, and Nussaibah Younis for Fundamentally.
Kit de Waal, the chair of judges for the prize, said in a statement, “Our selection celebrates rich, multi-layered narratives that will surprise, move and delight the reader, all drawing on, in different ways, the importance of human connection. What is surprising and refreshing is to see so much humor, nuance and lightness employed by these novelists to shed light on challenging concepts.”
The Women’s Prize for Fiction was established in 1996 as the Orange Prize for Fiction. Previous winners include Ann Patchett for Bel Canto, Zadie Smith for On Beauty, and Ruth Ozeki for The Book of Form and Emptiness.
The winner of this year’s award will be announced at a ceremony in London on June 12, alongside the winner of the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
