LONDON – The 23rd novel by acclaimed American author Louise Erdrich and an adult fiction debut by Trinidadian stand-up comedian Lisa Allen-Agostini were named finalists on Wednesday for the 30,000-pound ($38,000) Women’s Prize for fiction.
Erdrich’s “The Sentence” — set in a haunted Minneapolis bookstore — and Allen-Agostini’s Caribbean story of gender violence and liberation, “The Bread the Devil Knead,” are on a six-book shortlist for the prestigious British award.
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The finalists also include New Zealand author Meg Mason’s bold and funny novel about love and mental illness, “Sorrow and Bliss”; U.S.-Canadian writer Ruth Ozeki’s bibliophilic novel “The Book of Form and Emptiness”; Turkish-British author Elif Shafak’s Cyprus-set love story “The Island of Missing Trees”; and American writer Maggie Shipstead’s “Great Circle,” the story of a pioneering female aviator and her legacy.
Founded in 1996, the prize is open to female English-language writers from around the world. Previous winners include Zadie Smith, Tayari Jones and Maggie O’Farrell. Last year’s winner was Susanna Clarke’s literary fantasy “Piranesi.””
The winner of the 2022 Women’s Prize will chosen by a jury led by British journalist Mary Ann Sieghart and announced June 15 at a ceremony in London.