The Women’s Prize Trust – the UK charity which creates equitable opportunities for women in the world of books – today announces the shortlist for the 2024 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Now in its 29th year and sponsored by Audible and Baileys, the Women’s Prize for Fiction shines a spotlight on outstanding, ambitious, original fiction written in English by women from anywhere in the world.
The shortlist
- The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright
- Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan
- Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville
- Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
- Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy
- River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure
The 2024 shortlist features three established novelists (Anne Enright, Kate Grenville and Claire Kilroy), two authors who have one previous novel to their name (V. V. Ganeshananthan and Isabella Hammad), and one debut writer (Aube Rey Lescure). Three of the authors have previously been nominated for the Women’s Prize for Fiction: V. V. Ganeshananthan was longlisted in 2009; Anne Enright has been longlisted twice in 2008 and 2020 and shortlisted twice in 2012 and 2016; and Kate Grenville won in 2001 for The Idea of Perfection.
Many of the books depict characters who are navigating seismic changes in their identity, undergoing a process of self-reckoning and self-acceptance, with several also dealing with the inheritance of trauma and the resilience of women in overcoming the weight of the past. Half of the books in this year’s fiction shortlist also explore the migrant experience through different lenses, offering deeply moving, yet distinct, explorations of race, identity and family, of the West’s false promise and the magnetism of home. The shortlist encompasses stories that both focus on intimate family relationships, as well as those that convey a sweep of history, always with an eye on the particularity of women’s experience, whether in the home or in the context of war and political upheaval.
The judges
This year, bestselling author and chair of the 2024 judging panel Monica Ali is joined by author Ayọb̀ ámi Adébáyọ; author and illustrator Laura Dockrill; actor Indira Varma; and presenter and author Anna Whitehouse.
Monica Ali says:
This year’s shortlist features six brilliant, thought-provoking and spellbinding novels that between them capture an enormous breadth of the human experience. Readers will be captivated by the characters, the luminous writing and the exquisite storytelling. Each book is gloriously compelling and inventive and lingers in the heart and mind long after the final page.
The winner of the 2024 Women’s Prize for Fiction will be announced on Thursday 13 June 2024 at the Women’s Prize Trust’s summer party in central London, along with the inaugural winner of the 2024 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction. The winner will receive a cheque for £30,000, anonymously endowed, along with a limited-edition bronze statuette known as the ‘Bessie’, created and donated by the artist Grizel Niven.
More information can be found on the Women’s Prizes website here.
Get involved
If you work in a library or workplace and would like to promote the shortlist, you can download a free digital pack from our shop.
What do you think of the 2024 shortlisted titles? Which have you read and what will be added to your TBR pile? Add your comments below, or click any title above to leave a review.
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