Mantel, Evaristo among finalists for fiction’s Women’s Prize

LONDON — Hilary Mantel’s Tudor blockbuster “The Mirror and the Light” and Bernardine Evaristo’s tapestry of black women’s stories, “Girl, Woman, Other,” are among six finalists for the international Women’s Prize for Fiction.

The finalists announced Tuesday also include Natalie Haynes’ female-centred retelling of the Trojan War, “A Thousand Ships,” and Maggie O’Farrell’s Shakespeare-inspired “Hamnet.”

Nominated alongside the four U.K. writers are American authors Angie Cruz for the New York-set coming-of-age story “Dominicana” and Jenny Offill for the climate-anxiety comedy “Weather.”

Entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, who is chairing the judging panel, said the six books provided a chance to “connect with the outside world” during the lockdowns prompted by the coronavirus-pandemic.

“We are all living in challenging, sad and complex times, so incredible stories provide hope, a moment of escape and a point of connection now more than ever,” she said.

Founded in 1996, the 30,000-pound prize ($37,000) is open to female English-language writers from around the world.

The announcement of the winner, usually made in June, has been postponed until Sept. 9 because of the pandemic.

The Associated Press