Louise Erdrich, Leone Ross and Catherine Chidgey are among the novelists longlisted for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction.
The 16 novels explore themes including belonging, identity, the power of nature, female friendship, intergenerational trauma and the burden of history spanning from Britain to Trinidad.
Now in its 27th year, the £30,000 (€36,200) prestigious prize is open to original fiction written in English by women from anywhere in the world.
Alongside author and chair of judges Mary Ann Sieghart, the judging panel also includes author Lorraine Candy, best-selling novelist Dorothy Koomson, journalist Anita Sethi and broadcaster Pandora Sykes.
Sieghart said choosing 16 novels from 175 submissions was a “marathon task”.
“After a lively and passionate discussion, my fellow judges were delighted to find that our 16 favourite novels were incredibly diverse, written by women of all ages from all over the world, covering different genres, and from publishers large and small.
“We are confident that this wonderful, eclectic and inspiring longlist will offer something to entrance every reader, both male and female,” she added.
The 2022 longlist features both debut and acclaimed writers, with five British authors, six Americans, two New Zealanders, one Turkish-British, one American-Canadian and one Trinidadian writer.
Pulitzer Prize winner Erdrich, who features in the longlist for The Sentence, is the most prolific having published 23 novels.
Previously longlisted writers Ross and Chidgey are also included on the list, for This One Sky Day and Remote Sympathy respectively.
Writers Elif Shafak and Rachel Elliott have also been previously longlisted while Charlotte Mendelson was also shortlisted in 2008.
The shortlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction will be announced on April 27th and the winner will be awarded on June 15th at an evening ceremony in central London.
The full list of nominees are:
The Bread The Devil Knead by Lisa Allen
Salt Lick by Lulu Allison
Careless by Kirsty Capes
Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley
Flamingo by Rachel Elliott
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith
Sorrow And Bliss by Meg Mason
The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson
The Book Of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
This One Sky Day by Leone Ross
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
The Final Revival of Opal And Nev by Dawnie Walton
Creatures Of Passage by Morowa Yejidé
