Tiya Miles and Safiya Sinclair are on the shortlist for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction 2024 announced on Wednesday, March 27, 2024.
The Women’s Prize founded in 1996 is one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the United Kingdom. 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 include Zadie Smith, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Ali Smith.
For 2024, the initiative expanded with a new nonfiction award judged by a panel chaired by historian and broadcaster Professor Suzannah Lipscomb announced on October 25, 2023. She is joined by fair fashion campaigner Venetia La Manna; academic, author and consultant Professor Nicola Rollock; biographer and journalist Anne Sebba; and author and 2018 winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction Kamila Shamsie. The panel announced the longlist on February 15 before the shortlist was made public today.
Prof Lipscomb said. “Our magnificent shortlist is made up of six powerful, impressive books that are characterised by the brilliance and beauty of their writing and which each offer a unique, original perspective. The readers of these books will never see the world – be it through art, history, landscape, politics, religion or technology – the same again.”
The writers of African descent on the list are;
- All That She Carried, Tiya Miles
- How to Say Babylon, Safiya Sinclair
Safiya Sinclair tweeted, “I’m absolutely stunned and honoured to be shortlisted for the Women’s Prize in Non-Fiction! Thank you so much to the judges for honouring my book, and congrats to the fellow finalists. Huge thanks to my amazing team @4thestatebooks. Jamaica to the world! 💚🇯🇲☀️✨”
Watch the announcement in full below;
The winner will be announced at a ceremony on June 13, 2024.
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