Women’s Prize for Fiction Longlist 2020 is out, and it features some heavyweights from the literary world. Indians, particularly can rejoice as Deepa Anappara also finds a place in the list. But, to claim the win, she will have a tough fight from the likes of two-time Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel and other Booker winners like Anne Enright and Bernardine Evaristo.
Interestingly, Margaret Atwood's name is missing from the list and it comes as a surprise since her novel The Testament jointly won the Booker with Bernardine Evaristo’s novel last year.
It is said that the judges, chaired by Martha Lane Fox, read as many as 152 novels that were submitted. And out those, 16 have made it to the list. One of the judges Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train, was quoted as saying by The Guardian, “We had the most extraordinary list of submissions. I think it is unusual to have a year with quite so many heavy hitters publishing.”
The winner will be announced on June 3. Till then, fill up your to-read list with the following nominees:
1. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara
2. Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
3. Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
4. Dominicana by Angie Cruz
5. Actress by Anne Enright
6. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
7. Nightingale Point by Luan Goldie
8. A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
9. How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee
10. The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
11. The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel
12. Girl by Edna O’ Brien
13. Hamnet by Maggie O’
Farrell
14. Weather by Jenny Offill
15. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
16. Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
