Facts about Women's Prize for Fiction
- 09
Each year the Women's Prize for Fiction receives several hundred submissions from publishers across the UK, Commonwealth, and beyond, with the final shortlist representing less than 5 percent of all eligible entries.
- 08
American author Margaret Atwood won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2000 for her novel The Blind Assassin, which spent 116 weeks on the Sunday Times bestseller list.
- 07
Shortlists for the Women's Prize for Fiction typically contain twelve novels selected from hundreds of eligible submissions each year.
- 06
Lionel Shriver's 2003 novel We Need to Talk About Kevin was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2004, becoming one of the award's most frequently discussed selections in subsequent literary discourse.
- 05
Founded by a group of publishing industry professionals including Kate Mosse in 1996, the Women's Prize for Fiction initially aimed to celebrate and promote women's fiction writing.
- 04
Over 140,000 copies of Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus sold in the UK and Commonwealth after winning the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2023.
- 03
Judges for the Women's Prize for Fiction are exclusively female, a requirement that has remained consistent since the award's inception in 1996.
- 02
In 2023, Ali Smith's novel Companion won the Women's Prize for Fiction, marking her second victory after winning with Autumn in 2017.
- 01
The Women's Prize for Fiction, established in 1996, carries a £30,000 award for the winning author's novel published in the preceding year.