book cover images for sample of 2020 Women's Prize longlist

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2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction Longlist Announced

Pierce Alquist Mar 3, 2020

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Pierce Alquist

Senior Contributor

Pierce Alquist is a transplanted New Yorker living and working in the publishing scene in Boston. Don’t worry if she fooled you, the red hair is misleading. She’s a literature in translation devotee and reviewer and lover of small, independent presses. A voracious traveler and foodie, you can find her in her kitchen making borscht or covered in red pepper paste as she perfects her kimchi recipe.

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Celebrating excellence, originality, and accessibility in writing by women in English from across the world and now in its 25th year, the Women’s Prize for Fiction has announced its 2020 longlist. The sixteen finalists include Booker Prize co-winner Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other and a range of books from well-established authors like Jacqueline Woodson and Hilary Mantel to notable debuts like Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams. The shortlist will be announced on April 22nd and the winner will be announced on June 3rd.

Chair of the judges, Martha Lane Fox commented on the list, “Ahead of the longlist meeting I was anxious that the negotiations between judges might be as arduous as Brexit, but it was an absolute delight to pick our final 16 books. Entries for the Prize’s 25th year have been spectacular and we reveled in the variety, depth, humanity and joy of the writing–we hope everyone else will too.”

We're delighted to reveal this year's #WomensPrize longlist 🙌

Congratulations to our sixteen brilliant longlisted authors. Discover them here: https://t.co/6w8na8znoz pic.twitter.com/AgSYHAoQpL

— Women's Prize (@WomensPrize) March 3, 2020

The 2020 judging panel includes chair Martha Lane Fox; writer and activist Scarlett Curtis; writer and activist, Melanie Eusebe; co-founder of the Black British Business Awards, author, and comedian Viv Groskop; and Paula Hawkins, international bestselling author of The Girl on the Train.