Today they announced the longlist for this year’s Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction!
- Stay With Me, by Ayobami Adebayo
- The Power, by Naomi Alderman
- Hag-Seed, by Margaret Atwood
- Little Deaths, by Emma Flint
- The Mare, by Mary Gaitskill
- The Dark Circle, by Linda Grant
- The Lesser Bohemians, by Eimear McBride
- Midwinter, by Fiona Melrose
- The Sport of Kings, by C.E. Morgan
- The Woman Next Door, by Yewande Omotoso
- The Lonely Hearts Hotel, by Heather O’Neill
- The Essex Serpent, by Sarah Perry
- Barkskins, by Annie Proulx
- First Love, by Gwendoline Riley
- Do Not Say We Have Nothing, by Madeleine Thien
- The Gustav Sonata, by Rose Tremain
I find it interesting that it is still thought necessary for there to be a separate prize for women writers. The Pulitzer Prize in the US has recognized women as frequently as men for many years now and the Giller Prize in Canada is more likely to honour women writers than men. The Man Booker still acknowledges writing by men more than women, but is getting closer to 50/50. Perhaps one year soon it will seem no longer needed at all.
Delighted to see Madeleine Thien on here….
From the publishing industry´s perspective, a prize for female writers is very reasonable, especially the longlist. Perhaps the promotional publicity also benefits the main group of consumers.
‘When women stop reading, the novel will be dead’, as Ian McEwan put it.
A Goodread´s survey in England (2014) found that 90% of the most – read books by men were written by men. The converse was true for women: only five of the 50 most read-titles were written by men.