BAILEYS WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION ANNOUNCES 2017 SHORTLIST

London, 3 April 2017: The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction today announces the 2017 shortlist. Now in its 22nd* year, the Prize celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in writing by women in English from throughout the world.

Stay With Me by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀̀
The Power  Naomi Alderman
The Dark Circle by Linda Grant
The Sport of Kings by C.E. Morgan
First Love by Gwendoline Riley
Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien


The judges for the 2017 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction are:
Tessa Ross (Chair), CEO House Productions
Sam Baker, Journalist, Author and Co-Founder of The Pool
Katie Derham, Presenter and Broadcaster
Aminatta Forna, Novelist, Memoirist and Essayist
Sara Pascoe, Comic and Author

This year’s shortlist – announced this evening (Monday 03 April) at an event at Waterstones, Tottenham Court Road, central London, hosted by novelist and Co-Founder of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, Kate Mosse – features one previous winner of the Prize, Linda Grant (When I Lived in Modern Times, 2000) and one debut novelist.

“It has been a great privilege to Chair the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction in a year which has proved exceptional for writing of both quality and originality,” said Tessa Ross, Chair of Judges. “It was therefore quite a challenge to whittle this fantastic longlist of 16 books down to only six. From Kentucky in the 19th century to a dystopian future to a post-war sanatorium in the English countryside to 1980s Nigeria, the shortlist celebrates narratives that are daring and intimate, that examine the depth of human experience in unique and compelling ways. We were both impressed and moved by memorable characters from a young woman fleeing her home in China to a writer coming to terms with her failing marriage. These were the six novels that stayed with all of us well beyond the final page.”

Syl Saller, Chief Marketing Officer, Diageo commented, “The judges have selected
an inspirational shortlist of six novels, each different but united by the exceptional quality of writing and depth of story-telling. Baileys is hugely proud to partner with the Women’s Prize for Fiction to champion writing by women, and celebrate the incredible pleasure of reading a great book.”

Set up in 1996 to celebrate and promote international fiction by women throughout the world to the widest range of readers possible, the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2017 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.

The winner will be presented with a cheque for £30,000 and a limited edition bronze statue known as ‘the Bessie’, created by artist Grizel Niven. Both are anonymously endowed.
The award ceremony will take place in The Clore Ballroom, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London, on 7 June 2017.

Previous winners are – Lisa McInerney for The Glorious Heresies (2016), Ali Smith for How to be Both (2015), Eimear McBride for A Girl is a Half-formed Thing (2014), A.M. Homes for May We Be Forgiven (2013), Madeline Miller for The Song of Achilles (2012), Téa Obreht for The Tiger’s Wife (2011), Barbara Kingsolver for The Lacuna (2010), Marilynne Robinson for Home (2009), Rose Tremain for The Road Home (2008), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for Half of a Yellow Sun (2007), Zadie Smith for On Beauty (2006), Lionel Shriver for We Need to Talk About Kevin (2005), Andrea Levy for Small Island (2004), Valerie Martin for Property (2003), Ann Patchett for Bel Canto (2002), Kate Grenville for The Idea of Perfection (2001), Linda Grant for When I Lived in Modern Times (2000), Suzanne Berne for A Crime in the Neighbourhood (1999), Carol Shields for Larry’s Party (1998), Anne Michaels for Fugitive Pieces (1997), and Helen Dunmore for A Spell of Winter (1996).

For more information or to speak to Chair of judges Tessa Ross, please contact: Jane Acton or Georgina Church at Kallaway: Tel: 0207 221 7883
E: jane.acton@kallaway.com / georgina.church@kallaway.com

Notes to editors
• This year’s shortlist comprises three British authors, one Canadian author, one American author and one Nigerian author.
• Linda Grant previously won the Prize in 2000 and was also longlisted in 2008.
• Naomi Alderman won the Orange Award for New Writers in 2006.
• There is one first novel on the 2017 shortlist, Stay with Me by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀̀.
BAILEYS Women’s Prize for Fiction
• In June 2013, the Prize announced a partnership with Baileys, the world’s first cream liqueur, with the first Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction being awarded in June 2014.
• In January 2017 the Prize announced a new sponsorship opportunity for 2018 and beyond. For further information contact Rachel Clarke at Kallaway – Rachel.clarke@kallaway.com.
• *The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction was known as the Orange Prize for Fiction between 1996 and 2012.

• The Prize honours the best full-length fiction written in the English language by a woman anywhere in the world and has an all-female judging panel.
• The Prize’s spokesperson is novelist and Women’s Prize co-founder Kate Mosse, Harriet Hastings is Managing Director and Amanda Johnson is Project Director.
• The Prize’s Board comprises Joanna Prior (Chair), Harriet Hastings (Managing Director), Felicity Blunt (Company Secretary), Annie Coleman, Hannah Griffiths, Karen Jones CBE, Louise Jury, Martha Lane Fox CBE, Nicola Mendelsohn CBE, Arzu Tahsin and Syl Saller (CMO, Diageo). Together they are responsible for the overall management and direction of the Prize and the sponsorship arrangements.
• The Prize’s Advisory Council comprises Kate Mosse OBE, Clare Alexander, Jane Gregory (co-founder), Susan Sandon and Carole Welch.
• The Prize’s Patrons are: Dame Gillian Beer DBE, Rosie Boycott, Liz Calder, Shami Chakrabarti CBE, Helen Fraser CBE, Fi Glover, Daisy Goodwin, Muriel Gray, Bettany Hughes, Paula Kahn, Martha Kearney, Jude Kelly OBE, Helena Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws QC FRSA, Kirsty Lang, Sue MacGregor CBE, Sheena McDonald, Dame Jenni Murray DBE, Penny Perrick, Dame Gail Rebuck DBE, Miranda Richardson, Gillian Shephard, Baroness Shephard of Northwold, Ahdaf Soueif, Sandi Toksvig, Polly Toynbee, Joanna Trollope OBE and Lola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey OBE.
• In November 2015, a celebration marking the 20th anniversary of the Women’s Prize for Fiction saw Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, winner of the Prize in 2007, named ‘Best of the Best’ of the winners of the second decade of the Prize.
• Andrea Levy was named ‘Best of the Best’ of the first decade of the Prize in 2005 for her novel Small Island, which won the Women’s Prize in 2004.

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