Two Nigerian authors, Oyinkan Braithwaite and Diana Evans, have made the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction final shortlist.
The Women’s Prize for Fiction, previously known as the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, is one of the most prestigious literature awards in the world.
This is the first time that two African authors will be shortlisted the same year. Braithwaite was nominated for her book ‘My Sister, The Serial Killer’ and Evans for ‘Ordinary People’.
Other shortlisted authors include Pat Barker for ‘The Silence of the Girls’, Anna Burns for ‘Milkman’, Tayari Jones for ‘An American Marriage’ and Madeline Miller for ‘Circe’.
The prestigious prize has honoured many great authors since it was launched in 1996, including Chimamanda Adichie, who won in 2007 for ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’.
This is a significant career boost and it comes with a £30,000 ($40,000) prize.
The Women Prize for Fiction was created after the Bookers Prize of 1991 where none of the six shortlisted books was by a woman, despite 60 per cent of novels that year being published by female authors.
