The shortlist was announced today (Picture: Getty/Amazon)
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The idea for the Women’s Prize for Fiction came about in January 1992, after the Booker Prize shortlist of 1991 included not a single woman.
The winner receives prize money and a bronze figurine known as The Bessie, along with the prestige of counting themselves among the likes of Zadie Smith and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, both of whom previously took the title.
Described by the Women’s Prize Trust as ‘the greatest celebration of women’s creativity in the world,’ the award aims to empower diverse voices – and Kate Mosse is also calling for a Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction to help further the cause.
As readers, we can bolster their efforts by ensuring our shelves are representative and feature a variety of authors. And this year’s shortlist, released today, is a great place to start.
Those that made the cut in 2023 are predominantly British: four of the list are from the UK, alongside one American and one Irish writer. Did any of your favourites make the cut?
Why not pop all the books in your basket and judge the winner for yourself?
Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks
Jacqueline Crooks has smashed it out of the park with her debut novel Fire Rush, earning herself a spot on the 2023 shortlist.
Fire Rush explores Black womanhood in an underground club on London’s outskirts as she meets a man, Moose, with whom she falls head over heels for.
But their relationship doesn’t last forever and the novel is a telling of passion, anger and transformation.
Jacqueline Crooks grew up in Southall, part of London’s migrant community, and was immersed in the gang underworld as a young woman.
When she fell in love with writing it helped her to engage differently with the world, and she has gone on to be nominated for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, the Wasafiri New Writing Prize and the BBC National Short Story Award.
Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
From seasoned chef to shortlisted author, Louise Kennedy’s debut novel, Trespasses, is a doozy.
It’s a great book set in 70s Belfast, peppered with petrol bombs and rubber bullets as well as a juicy romance. Combining political thriller and romantic themes, Trespasses is a story that’s sure to have you hooked.
Louise is also the author of the acclaimed short story collection, The End of the World is a Cul de Sac, and is the only woman to have been shortlisted twice for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award.
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Barbara Kingsolver grew up in rural Kentucky and now lives with her husband on a farm in southern Appalachia.
This is not her debut – in fact, she’s won the Women’s Prize for Fiction before with her book The Lacuna and her other book the Flight Behaviour was also shortlisted.
Demon Copperhead is a young man who was born to a single mother in a community riddled with addiction and poverty – he is being pushed to his breaking point. It’s a raw and angry tale of love and loss.
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris
Priscilla Morris is yet another shortlisted author who is making her debut.
Black Butterflies is Priscilla’s response to the war that ravaged her mother’s hometown of Sarajevo, Bosnia, in the former Yugoslavia.
Amid nationalist gangs and a divided city under siege, protagonist Zora is forced to hold on to hope that she can rebuild the place she loves as it falls apart.
Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
Maggie O’Farrell is another former winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and is nominated yet again for 2023.
The Marriage Portrait is set in the winter of 1561. It follows the story of Lucrezia, the Duchess of Ferrara, who realises her husband Alfonso intends to kill her.
At just 16 years old, she is isolated in a remote villa with a trained soldier and ruler of the province who is set to take her life. Lucrezia needs to live.
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
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Pod by Laline Paull
The last book to make the Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist is Laline Paull. She is London-born and of Indian heritage and studied English at Oxford.
Set in the ocean, the novel follows Ea who suffers with deafness and cannot master the spinning rituals that unite her pod of spinner dolphins.
Disaster strikes and Ea leaves her family, fending for herself until she meets a group of bottlenoses.
This book points a finger directly at the cruelty and ignorance of humans and the damage we are doing to our oceans. You won’t be able to put it down.
Pod by Laline Paull
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Our pick has to be Laline Paull’s bestseller, Pod