Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
What's It About?
Clarke “has created a world beyond our wildest imagination that also tells us something profound about what it is to be human.”Let me happily relay the official announcement of the winner of the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction: Piranesi, written by Susanna Clarke and published by Bloomsbury, takes the grand prize. This luminous offering is, according to the Chair of Judges, “a truly original, unexpected flight of fancy which melds genres and challenges preconceptions about what books should be.”
A panel of skilled professionals judged and decided the winner of the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction, their choice released today, September 8 at an Awards Ceremony in London. The lucky winner receives an anonymously endowed cheque for £30,000 and a limited edition bronze figurine known affectionately as a “Bessie.’’ This is the 26th anniversary of the event, hosted by The Women’s Prize Trust, a registered charity championing women writers on a global stage. They proudly “empower all women to raise their voice and own their story, shining a spotlight on outstanding and ambitious fiction by women from anywhere in the world, regardless of their age, race, nationality or background.”
The judges included Chair Bernardine Evaristo; podcaster, author and journalist Elizabeth Day; columnist of The Guardian and writer Nesrine Malik; TV and Radio presenter, journalist and writer Vick Hope; and Sky News presenter and broadcaster Sarah-Jane Mee. Isn’t it fitting that the panel is made up entirely of women?
“It’s my go-to reading list,” says Sarah-Jane Mee in a promotional anticipatory video. “I immediately go to the bookshop and buy it all, so to be part of this process, gosh, I’m just so excited and privileged to be a part of it. I can’t wait!” And Elizabeth Day adds that the winner “really speaks to women as we are right now.”
The longlist was announced back in March with the shortlist following, well, shortly, in April. The latter included such acclaimed novels as Brit Bennet’s The Vanishing Half, Claire Fuller’s Unsettled Ground, Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom and Cherie Jones’ How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House, among others. To see the full shortlist, click here.
2020, which marked the notable 25th anniversary of the Prize, culminated in a public vote in which Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun reigned supreme. For more information on past winners, ways to support the Trust’s mission and a generally deeper dive into their work, check out the award’s website.
Sincerest congratulations, Susanna, from all of us at BookTrib!
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