March 18th, 2008
Orange Prize Longlist announced
Anne Enright is one of 18 writers to make this year’s longlist for the Orange Prize for Fiction for The Gathering. She has a very good chance of winning, and is up against other heavyweights like Deborah Moggach, Linda Grant (who won the prize a few years back) and Rose Tremain.
Longlist:
Anita Amirrezvani - The Blood of Flowers - Iranian/American (1st Novel)
Stella Duffy - The Room of Lost Things - British (11th Novel)
Jennifer Egan - The Keep - American (3rd Novel)
Anne Enright - The Gathering - Irish (4th Novel)
Linda Grant - The Clothes on Their Backs - British (4th Novel)
Tessa Hadley - The Master Bedroom - British (3rd Novel)
Nancy Huston - Fault Lines - Canadian (11th Novel)
Gail Jones - Sorry Harvill - Australian (3rd Novel)
Sadie Jones - The Outcast - British (1st Novel)
Lauren Liebenberg - The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam - South African (1st Novel)
Charlotte Mendelson - When We Were Bad - British (3rd Novel)
Deborah Moggach - In The Dark - British (16th Novel)
Anita Nair - Mistress - Indian (3rd Novel)
Heather O’Neill - Lullabies for Little Criminals - Canadian (1st Novel)
Elif Shafak - The Bastard of Istanbul - Turkish (7th Novel)
Dalia Sofer - The Septembers of Shiraz - American (1st Novel)
Scarlett Thomas - The End of Mr. Y - British (7th Novel)
Carol Topolski - Monster Love - British (1st Novel)
Rose Tremain - The Road Home - British (10th Novel)
Patricia Wood - Lottery - American (1st Novel)
The shortlist will be announced on April 15th with the winner announced at a ceremony on June 4th. The judges are Kirsty Lang; Lisa Allardice, editor of Guardian Review, musician Lily Allen and novelists Philippa Gregory and Bel Mooney. Just as there is every year, there has been criticism of the prize with A.S. Byatt dubbing it “sexist”. The longlist has also been accused of harbouring too many “misery memoirs”.
Just as the hunt for the next Booker of Bookers continues, the Orange Prize had - I’m not making the title up - an “Orange of Oranges” prize when it had 10 winners under its belt in 2005. It was awarded to Andrea Levy for Small Island.
Link: Orange Prize
March 18th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
I almost picked up Sadie Jones’ novel while I was there.
Enright does have a good shot at it.
March 19th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Sinead,
A couple of starkly different thoughts on the list.
- What’s in a name? Can you judge a book by its cover? Knowing nothing about the majority of those on the long-list, I’m struck by a yearning to read The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam, for no other reason than its title..
- Lily Allen???? Is she a big reader (and no nasty jokes please!)
March 19th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
I’ve got to say, i think they made a mistake leaving Richard Ford off the list
Seriously though,re Carol Topolski - Monster Love - I picked up this in a shop a few weeks back and read the back. it looked passable, but i didn’t buy it (I’ll wait for the B format ;)) The Linda Grant is meant to be great and I might give it a shot. A lot of the usual / orangey type stuff in the list though judging by the titles!
March 19th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
I know it’s been said before but Lily Allen?????
She may well be a big reader, who knows. I still don’t think it’s right!
March 20th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Medbh - let me know how you go with Sadie Jones, have heard good things about it.
Shane, I know, most of us when faced with a pile of - what are to all intents and purposes - anonymous books we know nothing about, will focus on names, covers etc. It’s not unlike being a bookshop and trying to decide what to buy.
Shane and Jo - I know, I’m not convinced on paper about Lily Allen, but then she could be the biggest secret bookworm in the world, so who knows?
Mish - Linda Grant will be on the shortlist, I have no doubt. I have to say though, that I’ve read fewer of this collection than in previous years.
Also Mish, was it you who posted before about The Heart is a Lonely Hunter? Just picked it up and am looking forward to it.
March 20th, 2008 at 10:31 am
I have just read The Room of Lost Things. It was quite good, but a bit strained in its multi-cultural mosaic of London. The central story - an old British man and his Anglo-Indian successor - was the emotional hitch for me (a very sad ending). But it seems that one has to have the Monica Ali/Zadie Smith thrust of anatomising a WHOLE society in the inetrchapters instead of letting subtext carry it through. Overall, enjoyable though. If anybody fancies a free copy, I’ve no room for it on my buckling bookshelf and am happy to send it to you by post for free. (Actually what do people do with books they don’t want to keep for posterity?)
March 20th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
I love the Heart is a Lonely Hunter Sinead, you won’t be disappointed. It makes me sick that she wrote such great stuff at such a young age! I just finished Member of the Wedding last week and it’s also worth a read. Actually it was in a really nice ‘collected stories’ volume I got from the book depository for less than a tenner i think.
Oh, but where is A.L. Kennedy’s Day? (Apart from in the ‘to be read pile’ beside my bed ;))
March 22nd, 2008 at 8:49 am
Only books I’ve read from the longlist is Anne Enright (which i think is brilliant) and When we were Bad - Charlotte Mendelson, which I thoroughly enjoyed and gave me a lot to ponder over, but not sure as substantial as The Gathering. She did cover a lot of ground though, and did it well. The intricate and complex web of family life. All the deceptions and rationalizations.
As for Lily Allen, apparently she’s a big reader and if the comments by the head of the jury is to be believed, holding her own on the panel. I’m more concerned about her youth (and therefore lack of life experience) rather than her being a musician.
March 22nd, 2008 at 2:50 pm
dc I take your point but I think just because you’re young doesn’t meant you can’t discern whether writing is any good or not
If anything having a younger input (not necessarily Lily Allen though!) might inject something new into the prize. I mean sometimes I find fiction written by women a bit too ‘domestic’ for my liking and I don’t think it’s bad to have more of a mix.