Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Debut novelists nominated for all-female prize


LONDON (AFP) -
Three debut novelists were nominated Tuesday alongside more established names like Rose Tremain for the women-only Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction.




Three Britons, two Canadians and an American were shortlisted for the 30,000-pound (59,000-dollar, 37,000-euro) prize, open to female authors writing in English whose works were published in Britain in the past year.



"We spent a great deal of time in the judging meeting asking the question, 'Is this a book you feel passionately about? Is it a book that you might pass onto a friend and urge them to read?'," said Kirsty Lang, chair of the judges.



"We all felt these six books passed that test.



"I'm extremely pleased we have three first novels as well as some very established authors on a list that reflects the scope, variety and international breadth of the Orange prize."



British writer Tremain, 54, was nominated for "The Road Home," her 11th novel which is about an eastern European immigrant seeking work in Britain.



Tremain has won several awards and is the only nominee who has been previously shortlisted for the Orange prize, in 2004.



US author Patricia Wood's debut novel "Lottery" was inspired by her father winning the Washington State Lottery.



It tells the story of how an intellectually-challenged, orphaned 31-year-old's family come out of the woodwork after he wins 12 million dollars.



Fellow first-timer Sadie Jones, 40, is shortlisted for "The Outcast."



The Londoner, a former screenwriter, tells the tale of a 19-year-old boy whose return from jail triggers the implosion not just of his family, but of a whole community.



The third debutante is Canada's Heather O'Neill, nominated for "Lullabies For Little Criminals," about a 12-year-old girl growing up in Montreal's red light district who gets sent to a juvenile detention centre.



Her compatriot Nancy Huston is shortlisted for her 11th novel, "Fault Lines," which is narrated by children from four generations of the same family.



British author Charlotte Mendelson is up for her third novel, "When We Were Bad," about a rabbi whose family begins to unravel.



Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie won the 2007 prize for her book "Half of a Yellow Sun."



The winner of the 2008 prize, set up in 1996 to celebrate fiction by women, will be annonuced at an awards ceremony at London's Royal Festival Hall on June 4.



Shortlist:

Rose Tremain

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