Orange Prize for Fiction

Orange Prize for Fiction
Awarded for	Best full-length novel written in English by a woman of any nationality
Presented by	Orange
Location	United Kingdom
First awarded	1996
Official website	http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/home

The Orange Prize for Fiction (known as the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction from 2007 to 2008) is one of the United Kingdom's most prestigious literary prizes,^[1][2][3] annually awarded 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.^[4]

The prize was originally due to be launched in 1994 with the support of Mitsubishi but public controversy over the merits of the award caused the sponsorship to be withdrawn.^[5] Funding from Orange, a UK mobile network operator and Internet service provider, allowed the prize to be launched in 1996 by a committee of male and female "journalists, reviewers, agents, publishers, librarians, booksellers", including current Honorary Director Kate Mosse.^[6][7]

The prize was established to recognise the contribution of female writers, whom Mosse believed were often overlooked in other major literary awards,^[8][9] and in reaction to the all-male shortlist for the 1991 Man Booker Prize.^[10] The winner of the prize receives £30,000, along with a bronze sculpture called the Bessie created by artist Grizel Niven, the sister of actor and writer David Niven.^[11] Typically, a longlist of nominees is announced around March each year, followed by a shortlist in June; within days the winner is announced. The winner is selected by a board of "five leading women" each year.^[12] In 2005, judges named Andrea Levy's Small Island as the "Orange of Oranges", the best novel of the preceding decade.^[13]

The BBC suggests that the Orange Prize forms part of the "trinity" of UK literary prizes, along with the Man Booker Prize and the Costa Book Awards; the sales of works by the nominees of these awards are significantly boosted.^[14] Levy's 2004 winning book sold almost one million copies (in comparison to less than 600,000 for the Man Booker Prize winner of the same year),^[15] while sales of Helen Dunmore's A Spell of Winter quadrupled after being awarded the inaugural prize.^[5] Valerie Martin's 2003 award saw her novel sales increase tenfold after the award,^[16] and British libraries, who often support the prize with various promotions, reported success in introducing people to new authors: "48% said that they had tried new writers as a result of the promotion, and 42% said that they would try other books by the new authors they had read."^[17]

However, the fact that the prize singles out female writers is not without controversy.^[18] After the prize was founded, Auberon Waugh nicknamed it the "Lemon Prize" while Germaine Greer claimed there would soon be a prize for "writers with red hair".^[19] Winner of the 1990 Man Booker Prize A. S. Byatt has called it a "sexist prize", claiming "such a prize was never needed."^[20] In 1999, the chairwoman of the judges, Lola Young, claimed that British female literature fell into two categories, either "insular and parochial" or "domestic in a piddling kind of way".^[21] Linda Grant suffered accusations of plagiarism following her award in 2000,^[22] while the following year, a panel of male critics produced their own shortlist and heavily criticised the genuine shortlist.^[23] The 2007 shortlist was decried for being derived from "... a lot of dross ..." by the chair of the judging panel Muriel Gray,^[24] while former editor of The Times Simon Jenkins called it "sexist".^[25] In 2008, writer Tim Lott called the award "a sexist con-trick" and suggested "the Orange Prize is sexist and discriminatory, and it should be shunned".^[26][27]

No woman has won the award more than once but Margaret Atwood has been nominated three times without a win. Since the inaugural award to Helen Dunmore, British writers have won five times, while North American authors have secured the prize seven times.

Winners and shortlisted writers

Year	Winner	Work	Shortlisted nominees	Notes	Ref(s)
1996	Dunmore, HelenHelen Dunmore	A Spell of Winter	Julia Blackburn Pagan Kennedy Amy Tan Anne Tyler Marianne Wiggins	Inaugural award	[28]
1997	Michaels, AnneAnne Michaels	Fugitive Pieces	Margaret Atwood, Deirdre Madden Jane Mendelsohn E. Annie Proulx Manda Scott	First non-British winner	[29]
1998	Shields, CarolCarol Shields	Larry's Party	Kirsten Bakis Pauline Melville Ann Patchett Deirdre Purcell Anita Shreve	Second Canadian winner	[30]
1999	Berne, SuzanneSuzanne Berne	A Crime in the Neighborhood	Jane Hamilton Barbara Kingsolver Toni Morrison Julia Blackburn Marilyn Bowering	Blackburn's second shortlisted nomination	[31]
2000	Grant, LindaLinda Grant	When I Lived in Modern Times	Judy Budnitz Elizabeth Strout Éilis Ni Dhuibhne Zadie Smith Rebecca Wells	Second British winner in five years	[22]
2001	Grenville, KateKate Grenville	The Idea of Perfection	Margaret Atwood Jill Dawson Ali Smith Rosina Lippi Jane Smiley	Atwood's second shortlisted nomination	[23][32]
2002	Patchett, AnnAnn Patchett	Bel Canto	Anna Burns Helen Dunmore Maggie Gee Chloe Hooper Sarah Waters	Dunmore's first nomination since winning in 1996	[33]
2003	Martin, ValerieValerie Martin	Property	Anne Donovan Shena Mackay Carol Shields Zadie Smith Donna Tartt	Shields' first nomination since winning in 1998, Smith's second shortlisted nomination	[30]
2004	Levy, AndreaAndrea Levy	Small Island	Rose Tremain Gillian Slovo Shirley Hazzard Margaret Atwood Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie	First British winner since 2000, Atwood's third shortlisted nomination. Small Island was also the Whitbread Book of the Year.	[34][35]
2005	Shriver, LionelLionel Shriver	We Need to Talk About Kevin	Joolz Denby Jane Gardam Sheri Holman Maile Meloy Marina Lewycka	Shriver revealed that she changed her name from Margaret Ann Shriver because she believed "men had an easier life". In 2005 the "Orange of Oranges" was awarded to Andrea Levy for Small Island.	[2][36][37]
2006	Smith, ZadieZadie Smith	On Beauty	Nicole Krauss Hilary Mantel Ali Smith Carrie Tiffany Sarah Waters	Zadie Smith's first win after two nominations, Ali Smith and Sarah Waters' second nomination	[38]
2007	Ngozi Adichie, ChimamandaChimamanda Ngozi Adichie	Half of a Yellow Sun	Rachel Cusk Kiran Desai Xiaolu Guo Jane Harris Anne Tyler	Adichie's first win after being nominated in 2004, Tyler's second shortlisted nomination. Prize renamed "Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction".	[39]
2008	Tremain, RoseRose Tremain	The Road Home	Nancy Huston Sadie Jones Charlotte Mendelson Heather O'Neill Patricia Wood	This was Tremain's 14th novel.	[40][41]
2009	Robinson, MarilynneMarilynne Robinson	Home	Ellen Feldman Samantha Harvey Samantha Hunt Deirdre Madden Kamila Shamsie	Robinson's third novel in 28 years, Madden's second shortlisted nomination. Prize renamed "Orange Prize for Fiction"	[42][43]
2010	Kingsolver, BarbaraBarbara Kingsolver	The Lacuna	Rosie Alison Attica Locke Hilary Mantel Lorrie Moore Monique Roffey	Sixth novel by Kingsolver.	[44]
2011	Obreht, TéaTéa Obreht	The Tiger's Wife	Kathleen Winter Aminatta Forna Emma Henderson Emma Donoghue Nicole Krauss	Debut novel by Obreht. At age 25 (at the time of the award) she was the youngest author to win to date.	[45]

See also

• List of British literary awards
• List of years in literature

References

• "Winners, shortlisted and longlisted books 1996–2007". Orange. http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/show/feature/Orange-past-winners/. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
• "Orange prize for fiction". The Guardian (London). 10 February 2008. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/orange-prize-for-fiction. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 

1. ^ Pryor, Fiona (28 December 2007). "Life after Orange Prize success". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7137156.stm. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Reynolds, Nigel (12 April 2008). "Small Island voted best Orange prize winner of past decade". Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1499760/Small-Island-voted-best-Orange-prize-winner-of-past-decade.html. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
3. ^ Forna, Aminatta (11 June 2005). "Stranger than fiction". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2005/jun/11/orangeprizeforfiction2005.orangeprizeforfiction. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
4. ^ "Entry rules and regulations". Orange. http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/show/feature/orange-faq-entry-rules-obpf. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Zangen, Britta (April/May 2003). "Women as Readers, Writers, and Judges The Controversy about the Orange Prize for Fiction". Women's Studies 32 (3): 281–299. doi:10.1080/00497870310066. ISSN 00497878. 
6. ^ "Prize history". Orange. http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/show/feature/orange-faq-history. Retrieved 17 June 2009. 
7. ^ "The Times Summer Books: Stories by Kate Mosse". The Times (London). 3 July 2008. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_reviews/article4263530.ece. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
8. ^ "Why are the Orange Prize for Fiction and Award for New Writers only open to women?". Orange. http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/show/feature/orange-faq-why-only-open-to-women. Retrieved 10 June 2009. 
9. ^ Merritt, Stephanie (28 October 2007). "The model of a modern writer". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/oct/28/fiction.stephaniemerritt. Retrieved 10 June 2009. 
10. ^ "Orange Prize longlist announced". The Guardian (London). 20 March 2000. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/mar/20/news. Retrieved 11 June 2009. 
11. ^ "What do winners win?". Orange. http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/show/feature/orange-faq-what-do-winners-win. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
12. ^ "Who judges the Prize for Fiction and Award for New Writers?". Orange. http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/show/feature/orange-faq-who-judges. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
13. ^ Ezard, John (3 October 2005). "Orange judges to name best novelist of decade". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/oct/03/orangeprizeforfiction2005.books. Retrieved 8 June 2009. 
14. ^ "10 ways to get you to read a book". BBC News. 16 October 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7046677.stm. Retrieved 11 June 2009. 
15. ^ "Science prize seeks new sponsor". BBC News. 16 May 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4985892.stm. Retrieved 11 June 2009. 
16. ^ "Orange authors eye bright futures". Bookseller: p. 17. 7 May 2004. 
17. ^ "Library triumph for Orange". Bookseller: p. 31. 1 February 2002. 
18. ^ Pressley, James (21 April 2009). "Robinson, Feldman Make Final Round in Orange Prize for Fiction". Bloomberg. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aR6wT5dJd5i4&refer=muse. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
19. ^ Bedell, Geradline (6 March 2005). "Textual politics". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2005/mar/06/orangeprizeforfiction2004.orangeprizeforfiction. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
20. ^ Alberge, Dalya (18 March 2008). "A. S. Byatt denounces 'sexist' Orange prize". The Times (London). http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3572002.ece. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
21. ^ Gibbons, Fiachra (10 May 1999). "'Piddling' British fiction loses out to Americans". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/1999/may/10/fiachragibbons. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
22. ^ ^{a b} Kennedy, Maev (8 June 2000). "Orange prize winner rejects claims of plagiarism". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/jun/08/books.booksnews1. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
23. ^ ^{a b} Gibbons, Flachra (19 May 2001). "Sexes clash on Orange prize". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/may/19/books.orangeprizeforfiction2001. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
24. ^ Majendie, Paul (6 June 2007). "Nigerian author wins top women's fiction prize". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSL0627938220070606. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
25. ^ Reynolds, Nigel (18 April 2007). "Booker prize author joins Orange shortlist". Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1548937/Booker-prize-author-joins-Orange-shortlist.html. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
26. ^ Guest, Katy (6 June 2008). "The Big Question: Has the time come to close the book on women-only literary prizes?". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/the-big-question-has-the-time-come-to-close-the-book-on-womenonly-literary-prizes-841352.html. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
27. ^ Oakes, Keily (3 June 2003). "The fiction of women's writing". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2956860.stm. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
28. ^ McCrum, Robert (10 June 2001). "'The Siege is a novel for now'". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/jun/10/fiction.features3. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
29. ^ Shilling, Jane (17 May 2009). "The Winter Vault By Anne Michaels: review". Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/5323544/The-Winter-Vault-By-Anne-Michaels-review.html. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
30. ^ ^{a b} "Martin is surprise Orange prize winner". BBC News. 3 June 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2958540.stm. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
31. ^ Tonkin, Boyd (9 June 1999). "`Disturbing and lyrical' first novel wins Orange prize". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/disturbing-and-lyrical-first-novel-wins-orange-prize-1099021.html. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
32. ^ Ezard, John (6 June 2001). "Out of the 'gum tree and wombat culture'". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/jun/06/humanities.orangeprizeforfiction20011. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
33. ^ Brown, Helen (13 June 2002). "It's wrong to sell women literature as aromatherapy". Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3577820/Its-wrong-to-sell-women-literature-as-aromatherapy.html. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
34. ^ Brace, Marianne (12 June 2004). "Andrea Levy: Notes from a small island". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/andrea-levy-notes-from-a-small-island-732211.html. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
35. ^ Ezard, John (6 January 2005). "Whitbread novel prize is double for Levy". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/jan/06/books.whitbreadbookawards2004. Retrieved 7 June 2007. 
36. ^ "School murder novel wins Orange Prize". Sydney Morning Herald. 9 June 2005. http://www.smh.com.au/news/Books/School-murder-novel-wins-Orange-Prize/2005/06/08/1118123897572.html. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
37. ^ "Do real men read "women's books"?". BBC News. 5 June 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/breakfast/4072026.stm. Retrieved 11 June 2009. 
38. ^ Ezard, John (7 June 2006). "Orange prize for Zadie Smith". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/jun/07/orangeprizeforfiction2006.topstories3. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
39. ^ Arana, Marie (17 June 2007). "Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Teller of Tales". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/14/AR2007061401729_pf.html. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
40. ^ Grice, Elizabeth (8 June 2008). "Rose Tremain's Orange Prize: 'You can't pretend to be indifferent to prizes...'". Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/authorinterviews/3553705/Rose-Tremains-Orange-Prize-You-cant-pretend-to-be-indifferent-to-prizes....html. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
41. ^ Mosse, Kate (8 June 2008). "Noises off: This is a celebration – so cut the whining and just read the books". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/noises-off-this-is-a-celebration-ndash-so-cut-the-whining-and-just-read-the-books-842491.html. Retrieved 8 June 2009. 
42. ^ Brown, Mark (3 June 2009). "Marilynne Robinson wins Orange prize". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jun/03/marilynne-robinson-orange-prize. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
43. ^ "Orange Prize for Fiction 2009 Shortlist". Orange. http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/2009-Prize/shortlist. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
44. ^ "Barbara Kingsolver wins Orange Prize for Fiction". BBC News. 9 June 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8730935.stm. Retrieved 9 June 2010. 
45. ^ Armistead, Claire (12 April 2011). "Orange prize shortlist favours debut novelists". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/12/orange-prize-debut-novelists. Retrieved 12 April 2011. 

External links

• Official Orange Prize website
• Shortlisted works for the Orange Prize