Two Vintage titles - Imogen Hermes Gowar's debut The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, and Elif Batuman's The Idiot - have been included on the six-book-strong shortlist for this year's Women's Prize for Fiction.
Sarah Sands, 2018 chair of judges and Editor of BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme said:
“The shortlist was chosen without fear or favour. We lost some big names, with regret, but narrowed down the list to the books which spoke most directly and truthfully to the judges,” said Sarah Sands, Chair of Judges. “The themes of the shortlist have both contemporary and lasting resonance encompassing the birth of the internet, race, sexual violence, grief, oh and mermaids. Some of the authors are young, half by Brits and all are blazingly good and brave writers.”
Previously known as The Baileys Prize, the £30,000 award recognises “excellence, originality and accessibility in writing by women in English from throughout the world”. It was set up in 1996, following a year when there were no female authors shortlisted for the Booker prize, and chair of the judges Sarah Sands said that this year’s longlist demonstrated that the prize is not a “special pleading award” for writers who wouldn’t make it in other circumstances.
The winner of this year's prize will be announced on 6 June.
Here's some more information on our two shortlisted titles: