BAILEYS WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION MARKS 20 YEARS

Announcing ‘Best of the Best’ – a celebration of the second decade

• A celebration marking the 20^th anniversary of the Women’s Prize for Fiction
• Includes two weeks of programming with BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour and partnership with Waterstones
• On 2 November, at the Piccadilly Theatre in London – with award-winning actors including Stanley Tucci and Sheila Hancock-  the  ‘Best of the Best’ novel of the past ten winners (2006 – 2015) will be announced

The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, the UK’s only book award for fiction written by a woman, announces ‘Best of the Best’; a celebration of the second decade of the Prize (2006 – 2015) to mark 20 years of the Women’s Prize for Fiction.

The anniversary celebrations will include two weeks of programming with BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and a partnership with Waterstones, culminating in a major public event that will see the announcement of the ‘Best of the Best’ book chosen from the past ten winners of the Prize by the Chairs of each year’s judging panel.

Novelist Kate Mosse OBE, Co-Founder and Chair of the Women’s Prize for Fiction Board said, “For twenty years, the Prize has championed and celebrated outstanding fiction written by women from all over the world, and put passionate, ambitious, fearless, powerful, engaging, thought provoking, entertaining novels into the hands of readers.  In 2005, we celebrated our first decade with a ‘Best of the Best’ campaign with Woman’s Hour.  So as part of our twenty year celebrations, what better way to honour our second decade of winners than to put all ten winning novels back in the spotlight and introduce a new generation of readers to these exceptional works.”

The Prize is collaborating with BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour to celebrate the anniversary.  Each of the ten Chairs of Judges from 2006 – 2015 will be interviewed individually about ‘their’ winning novel. The interviews will start on Monday 19^th October and feature daily for two weeks.

Listeners will be encouraged to vote for their favourite Women’s Prize for Fiction book of the second decade via a poll on the Woman’s Hour website, the results of which will be announced on Monday 2^nd November with an interview with the author of the novel chosen.

The ten Chairs will also gather for a judging meeting to decide their ‘Best of the Best’ of the winning novels of the second decade of the Prize.

For the final celebration – timed to coincide with the public vote result – the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction will hold a special anniversary event; ‘Best of the Best Live’, at the Piccadilly Theatre in central London on Monday 2nd November.  Hosted by novelist and Chair of the Board, Kate Mosse, award-winning actors – including Stanley Tucci – will be reading from each of the ten novels. There will also be a discussion with the Chairs of Judges, building up to the announcement of which novel of the second decade is their ‘Best of the Best’.

The winner of the ‘Best of the Best’ 2006 – 2015 will be presented with a specially cast silver Bessie.  Created and donated by the artist Grizel Niven, a bronze statuette known as the ‘Bessie’ is presented annually to the winner of Prize.  The only other recipient of a silver Bessie is Andrea Levy, winner of the ‘Best of the Best’ of the Prize’s first decade in 2004 for Small Island.

As part of the celebrations, the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction will be partnering with Waterstones,  who will be supporting the anniversary activity with a dedicated promotion of the past ten winning novels in-store and online.

The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction will also be producing a souvenir anniversary reading guide to the ten winning books of the last decade. Produced in digital format, it will be available to download online from the Woman’s Hour and BWPFF websites and will include a foreword by Dame Jenni Murray DBE, the Chair of the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2004 and Woman’s Hour presenter, and reading notes to the ten novels.

The winners of the past decade are:

2006 – On Beauty by Zadie Smith – Chair, Martha Kearney

2007 – Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Chair, Muriel Gray

2008 – The Road Home by Rose Tremain – Chair, Kirsty Lang

2009 – Home by Marilynne Robinson – Chair, Fi Glover

2010 – The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver – Chair, Daisy Goodwin

2011 – The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht – Chair, Bettany Hughes

2012 – The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller – Chair, Joanna Trollope OBE

2013 – May We Be Forgiven by A. M Homes – Chair, Miranda Richardson

2014 – A Girl is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride – Chair, Helen Fraser

2015 – How to be Both by Ali Smith – Chair, Shami Chakrabarti CBE

Set up in 1996 to celebrate and promote outstanding, accessible, excellent international fiction by women throughout the world to the widest range of readers possible, the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction is awarded for the best novel of the year written by a woman.  Any woman writing in English – whatever her nationality, country of residence, age or subject matter – is eligible.

For more information and details on how to purchase tickets for the 20th anniversary event on Monday 2^nd November, go to www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk.

For more information or to request an interview with the Chairs of the Judging Panels or with Kate Mosse, please contact:

Press Enquiries

Amanda Johnson

Tel: 07715 922 180
Email: amanda@amandajohnsonpr.com

Notes to Editors

BAILEYS Women’s Prize for Fiction Best of the Best 2006 – 2015/BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour 

• The two week series of interviews with the Chairs of judges from the past decade of the Baileys Womens Prize for Fiction will take place from Monday 19^th October to Friday 30th October as follows:
• Monday 19^th October: interview with Martha Kearney to discuss 2006 winner On Beauty by Zadie Smith
• Tuesday 20^th October: interview with Muriel Gray to discuss 2007 winner Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Wednesday 21^st October: interview with Kirsty Lang to discuss 2008 winner The Road Home by Rose Tremain
• Thursday 22^nd October: interview with Fi Glover to discuss the 2009 winner Home by Marilynne Robinson
• Friday 23^rd October: interview with Daisy Goodwin to discuss 2010 winner The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
• Monday 26^th October: interview with Bettany Hughes to discuss 2011 winner The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht
• Tuesday 27^th October: interview with Joanna Trollope OBE to discuss 2012 winner The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
• Wednesday 28^th October: interview with Miranda Richardson to discuss 2013 winner May We Be Forgiven by A. M Homes
• Thursday 29^th October: interview with Helen Fraser to discuss 2014 winner A Girl is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride
• Friday 30^th October: interview with Shami Chakrabarti CBE to discuss 2015 winner How to be Both by Ali Smith
• Monday 2^nd November: reveal of the winning author of the Woman’s Hour public vote
• For more information, go to bbc.co.uk/womanshour

BAILEYS Women’s Prize for Fiction Best of the Best 2006 – 2015 Live:  Monday 2^nd November 2015

Listings Information

• Date: Monday 2^nd November, 7.30pm
• Venue: Piccadilly Theatre, 16 Denman Street, London W1D 7DY
• Detail: Join bestselling novelist and Women’s Prize for Fiction co-Founder Kate Mosse to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction culminating in the announcement of a Best of the Best book of the Prize’s second decade. This special event will see readings from the winning books from 2006 – 2015 by actors including Stanley Tucci, a debate with the ten Chairs of judges of the second decade of the Prize including Joanna Trollope, Bettany Hughes and Shami Chakrabarti as well as the presentation of the Best of the Best 2006 – 2015 award.
• Tickets: Available from here at £15.00. 

BAILEYS Women’s Prize for Fiction

• In June 2013, the prize announced a new three-year partnership with Baileys and from 2014 the prize has been known as the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction.
• The Prize’s patrons are; Dame Gillian Beer DBE, Professor Lisa Jardine CBE, Jude Kelly CBE, Helena Kennedy Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws QC FRSA, Sue MacGregor CBE, Dame Jenni Murray DBE, Shami Chakrabarti CBE, Lola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey OBE, Rosie Boycott, Liz Calder, Fi Glover, Daisy Goodwin, Muriel Gray, Bettany Hughes, Paula Kahn, Martha Kearney, Kirsty Lang, Sheena McDonald, Penny Perrick, Baroness Gail Rebuck DBE, Miranda Richardson, Gillian Shephard, Baroness Shephard of Northwold, Ahdaf Soueif, Sandi Toksvig OBE, Polly Toynbee and Joanna Trollope OBE.
• The Prize’s board comprises of Kate Mosse OBE (Chair), Clare Alexander, Felicity Blunt, Jane Gregory (Company Secretary), Harriet Hastings (Managing Director), Karen Jones, Baroness Lane Fox of Soho, Nicola Mendelsohn, Joanna Prior and Carole Welch.
• The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction was known as the Orange Prize for Fiction between 1996 and 2012. 

About BAILEYS

BAILEYS and the Prize share a mutual purpose, to celebrate brilliant women and their shared ambition is to bring the best women’s writing and female storytellers to ever-wider audiences.

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