Louise Erdrich among 6 finalists for literary Women's Prize

The 23rd novel by acclaimed American author Louise Erdrich and an adult fiction debut by Trinidadian stand-up comedian Lisa Allen-Agostini are among finalists for the 30,000-pound ($38,000) Women’s Prize for fiction

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.

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.””