Three Nigerians female authors nominated for this year's Women’s Prize for Fiction

THREE Nigerian authors have been nominated for the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world that was once won by Chimamanda Adichie for her novel Half of a Yellow Sun.

Nigerians Oyinkan Braithwaite, Emezi Akwaeke and Diana Evans have all been nominated for the prestigious prize. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, previously known as the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Baileys Women’s Prize For Fiction, is highly regarded in global literary circles.

Ms Braithwaite was nominated for her book My Sister, The Serial Killer, Ms Emezi for Freshwater and Ms Evans for the novel Ordinary People. My Sister, The Serial Killer tells the story of the complex relationship between a glamorous Lagos fashion designer and her responsible older sister, who is always ready with bleach and rubber gloves to help cover up a crime.

Ms Emezi’s Freshwater explores the multiple voices of an Igbo god living within a young woman. Ms Evans’ Ordinary People, which opens at a party thrown in honour of Barack Obama’s presidential victory in 2008, cleverly exposes the melancholy of suburban middle-class black people using celebrity events.

First launched in 1996, the prestigious prize has honoured many great authors and offers a significant career boost, as well as a £30,000 ($40,000) prize. It was created after the debacle of the Bookers Prize of 1991 where none of the six shortlisted books was by a woman, despite 60% of novels that year being published by female authors.

Chaired by Professor Kate Williams, the 2019 judging panel includes journalists Dolly Alderton and Arifa Akbar, anti-FGM activist Leyla Hussein. Sarah Wood, the chair and co-founder of the global video advertising marketplace, Unruly, is also on the panel.