The shortlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2013 was announced today at the London Book Fair. The six nominees are…
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
May We Be Forgiven by A. M. Homes
Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
NW by Zadie Smith
The longlist was very strong this year with a good mix of established authors alongside some new names. I am really, really pleased to see ‘Flight Behaviour’ on the shortlist as I have just started reading it and Kingsolver’s writing is simply mesmerising. I also received a copy of ‘NW’ for Christmas which I haven’t read yet and my mum has a copy of ‘Bring Up The Bodies’ which I also plan to borrow at some point.
Although I have been a little critical of the purpose of literary awards in the past, I am still curious about them and in this particular case, I think the prominence of female authors such as Hilary Mantel and Zadie Smith today shows that the Women’s Prize has made a successful and valuable contribution towards redressing the gender balance on the usually male-dominated literary scene. Last week, I booked myself a ticket to see this year’s shortlisted authors read out extracts of their work at the Southbank Centre in London on 4th June. I have never been to an event like this before but I am really looking forward to it and will definitely be reporting back my experiences on my blog…
A Little Blog of Books 
That reading should be WONDERFUL – looking forward to your report-back. 🙂
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That’s a great list – some of the best authors (of any sex, age and nationality) of the last 10-15 years on there. And that sounds like a brilliant event at the Southbank Centre too.
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So jealous you get to be at the event in June!
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Of these I’ve read the Kingsolver book. I didn’t love it. The protagonist is a little hard to like but the story was very interesting.
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I definitely plan to read the Kingsolver and the Atkinson. For some reason I just can’t bring myself to tackle Bring Up the Bodies (or Wolf Hall for that matter). I’ll be interested to see what you think of them.
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The Mantel ones don’t interest me either.
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I’m right there cheering for Kate Atkinson. I think she’s a great, very talented and wise writer and Life After Life is her best work until now. I seriouly think she’ll win many more prizes in the future – at least, I hope so!
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I love Barbara Kingsolver but Where’d You Go Bernadette was my favorite book last year!
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Liked Flight Behavior and NW. Can’t wait to read about the event.
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Lucky! Definitely read Where’d You Go Bernadette. Clever, funny, and a bit heartwarming.
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Reblogged this on welcometosuccess and commented:
Reblogging! 🙂 http://www.welcometosuccessonline.com
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Look forward for your report and book reviews on the books that you will be reading as stated here.
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Wow, what an amazing event! I’ve now read three and will see if I can at least read another, but too many exciting books coming up on the TBR, feeling a little overwhelmed! I think they are strong contenders and it will be hard to push aside the previous winners, though maybe Atkinson has a chance. We will see!
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It is a noble challenge to try to read all of the shortlist for a prize. I did it once too in 2011 when it was still called the Orange, and I am glad I did that once. Next time I might just read the winner!
I hope you do better at guessing the winner than I did! Good luck!
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