Sixteen titles have been long listed from 189 submissions by publishers for the Baileys women's prize for fiction. The sponsorship is now up for renewal but the prize will continue as strong as ever.
"The Women’s Prize is now 22 years old and about to enter a new chapter, but our aim remains the same: to celebrate the very best writing by women in English from all over the world and to champion diverse voices – in every genre, of any nationality, race, age, country of origin or birth, from any storytelling tradition." Kate Mosse, co-founder, Author
The prize originated in a year in which 60% of novels were written by women (70% read by women) and not one shortlisted for the Booker Prize (UK), a time when less than 9% of novels shortlisted for major literary prizes were by women. In a new era of challenges against women, initiatives like this are just as necessary as they were at its conception.
Reading informs, entertains, helps us understand, makes us reflect, allows us to hear little known or heard voices while fiction makes history, issues and multiple perspectives more accessible by channelling what may be dry subject material into consumable stories. Mosse communicates that so succinctly when she says:
"Novels can reflect our lives, yes, but also help us to stand in another person’s shoes. Show us another way to see the world. They are about empathy, about imagining, about the courage to speak out. Novels slip between the gaps in understanding and help us to listen to voices other than our own." Kate Mosse
The sixteen titles on the long list for 2017 are illustrated in the photo below, to read the list of titles and a short summary of each book, visit my blog post here at Word by Word.