Women’s Prize for fiction shortlist features six first-time nominees

The winner of the 2021 Women’s Prize will be announced on July 7.

Novels that explore forgotten and neglected communities in Britain, the U.S. and the Caribbean were named finalists on Wednesday for the 30,000 pound ($42,000) Women’s Prize for fiction. The six-book shortlist includes American author Brit Bennett’s tale of twins who take different paths, The Vanishing Half, U.S. writer Patricia Lockwood’s social media satire No One is Talking About This and Transcendent Kingdom, a story of African immigrants in Alabama by Ghanaian-American writer Yaa Gyasi. Also in the running are Barbadian writer Cherie Jones’ story of gritty life on a beautiful island, How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House, and two books by British writers: Susanna Clarke’s literary fantasy Piranesi and Claire Fuller’s rural family saga Unsettled Ground.