Oyinkan Braithwaite, Akwaeke Emezi make UK’s Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019 longlist.

Oyinkan Braithwaite and Akwaeke Emezi have made the longlist of the UK’s Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019 announced on March 4, 2019.

The Women’s Prize for Fiction is one of the United Kingdom’s most prestigious literary prizes. It is awarded annually to a female author of any nationality for the best original full-length novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom in the preceding year. Previous winners of the prize include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Zadie Smith, and Ali Smith.

The longlist for this year’s edition of the prize has been announced with two African novelists Oyinkan Braithwaite and Akwaeke Emezi making the cut. The full list of those in the running for the prize with the Africans in bold are;

• The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker.
• Remembered by Yvonne Battle-Felton.
• My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite.
• The Pisces by Melissa Broder.
• Milkman by Anna Burns.
• Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi.
• Ordinary People by Diana Evans.
• Swan Song by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott.
• An American Marriage by Tayari Jones.
• Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lilian Li.
• Bottled Goods by Sophie van Llewyn.
• Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli.
• Praise Songs for the Butterflies by Bernice L McFadden.
• Circe by Madeline Miller.
• Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss.
• Normal People by Sally Rooney.

While Oyinkan Braithwaite is still to make a statement on the longlist, Akwaeke Emezi went onto their Twitter account to comment on the nomination. The novelist who identifies as a nonbinary trans author acknowledged the longlist musing that earlier in their career, a literary goal was to write a novel eligible for the Women’s Prize UK.

what a journey since this tweet lolhttps://t.co/YQBwY32s9u

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) March 4, 2019

While they look forward to the dialogue around a nonbinary trans author being up for women’s prize, we’ll never know the novelist’s view on things until they win it.

a preemptive tweet: i look forward to the dialogue around a nonbinary trans author being up for the women’s prize, i’ll save mine for if i win 🥂 congratulations to the other longlisted authors! ✨🎊

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) March 4, 2019

The shortlist will be announced 29 April, with the winner revealed on 5 June.