Books

Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction announces longlist

The UK prize, with a £30,000 purse, honours the best in English-language fiction by women around the world.
Author Anne Enright speaks on stage at The New Yorker Festival on October 10, 2014 in New York City. (Credit: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images The New Yorker)

Today, International Women's Day, is also the day the longlist for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction has been announced. 
The 20 authors on the 2016 longlist are:

  • Kate Atkinson for A God in Ruins
  • Shirley Barrett for Rush Oh!
  • Cynthia Bond for Ruby
  • Geraldine Brooks for The Secret Chord
  • Becky Chambers for The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
  • Jackie Copleton for A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding
  • Rachel Elliott for Whispers Through a Megaphone
  • Anne Enright for The Green Road
  • Petina Gappah for The Book of Memory
  • Vesna Goldsworthy for Gorsky
  • Clio Gray for The Anatomist's Dream
  • Melissa Harrison for At Hawthorn Time
  • Attica Locke for Pleasantville
  • Lisa McInerney for The Glorious Heresies
  • Elizabeth McKenzie for The Portable Veblen
  • Sara Nović for Girl at War
  • Julia Rochester for The House at the Edge of the World
  • Hannah Rothschild for The Improbability of Love
  • Elizabeth Strout for My Name is Lucy Barton
  • Hanya Yanagihara for A Little Life

"We are delighted with the quality, the imaginative scope and the ambition of our chosen books," says British lawyer and television personality Margaret Mountford, the chair of the 2016 judges. "We hope readers will enjoy the variety of outstanding work on offer."

The UK's only annual award for fiction written by women, the Baileys Women's Prize is open to international authors and is judged by an all-women jury. The shortlist will be announced on April 11, and the winner of the £30,000 prize will be announced on June 8.

There are no Canadians on this year's longlist - past Canadian winners of the prize include Anne Michaels and Carol Shields.