Kingsolver, O’Farrell Named Female Fiction Finalists | WGN Radio 720

LONDON (AP) — Appalachia’s latest on Charles Dickens and the story the dolphins tell is one of six finalists in the prestigious Female Fiction Awards announced Wednesday.

American author Barbara Kingsolver’s David Copperfield set in modern-day Virginia, Damon Copperhead and British novelist Larline Paul’s deep-sea drama Pod are £30,000 ($37,000). ) is one of the nominees for the award.

Kingsolver won the Female Award for “The Lacuna” in 2010. Britain’s Maggie O’Farrell, who won in 2020 for ‘Hamnet’, was once again a finalist for the Italian Renaissance story ‘Portrait of Marriage’.

Finalists also include three debut novels. ‘Trespasses’ is a love story by Irish author Louise Kennedy, set during a period of violence in Northern Ireland. Dub Reggae-filled coming-of-age story “Fire Rush” by British Jacqueline Crooks. “Black Butterfly” is a war story set in Sarajevo by British author Priscilla Morris.

Broadcast journalist Louise Minchin, who chairs the judging panel, said the six finalists had an “amazing” range of imagination.

“There is 16th-century Florence, and the Indian Ocean is told through the eyes of the creatures who live there,” she said.

Giving a personal voice to America’s opioid crisis, the Siege of Sarajevo, the London riots in the late 1970s, and the conflict in Northern Ireland, Minchin said the other books on the list were “very insightful and very moving.” It takes the reader behind the headlines in a sensible way.” “

Created in 1996, the award is open to female English writers from any country. Past winners include Zaddy Smith, Tayari Jones and Susannah Clark. Last year’s award went to Canadian-American novelist Ruth Ozeki’s book The Book of Form and Void.

The 2023 Women of the Year award winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on June 14th.