Today is International Women’s Day and people are celebrating in a variety of creative ways. You may want to celebrate by reading one of our suggested Essential Books on Feminism. The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction was established in 1996 and is the United Kingdom’s only award for women writers of fiction. According to its website, “the Prize is awarded annually and celebrates excellence, originality, and accessibility in women’s writing from throughout the world.” The winner will receive a £30,000 and a “limited edition bronze known as ‘Bessie’, created by the artist Grizel Niven.”
The Baileys Prize longlist was chosen by this year’s panel of judges (who read over 170 novels), and includes well-known authors such as Kate Atkinson and Anne Enright, as well as debut self-published authors from around the world.
Margaret Mountord, this year’s Chair of Judges, stated:
We had a hugely enjoyable and stimulating meeting, as there were a great many strong novels in contention. We are delighted with the quality, the imaginative scope and the ambition of our chosen books, a longlist which reflects the judges’ interests and tastes. We hope readers will enjoy the variety of outstanding work on offer.
Here is the complete 2016 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist:
A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
Rush Oh! by Shirley Barrett
Ruby by Cynthia Bond
The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton
Whispering Through a Megaphone by Rachel Elliot
The Green Road by Anne Enright
The Book of Memory by Petina Gappah
Gorsky by Vesna Goldsworthy
The Anatomist’s Dream by Clio Gray
At Hawthorn Time by Melissa Harrison
Pleasantville by Attica Locke
The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney
The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie
Girl at War by Sara Novi?
The House on the Edge of the World by Julia Rochester
The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
All photos courtesy of https://bit.ly/1f5tcyf.