Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead has won the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction. With this win, Kingsolver is the prize's first double winner in its 28-year history.
The 2023 chair of the judging panel, writer and broadcaster Louise Minchin, presented the author with the £30,000 prize and the "Bessie", a limited-edition bronze figurine by Grizel Niven, at an awards ceremony in Bedford Square Gardens, central London, on 14 June 2023.
Previously known as the Orange Prize for Fiction and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, the Women's Prize for Fiction is among the UK's most prestigious literary prizes. It is awarded for the best full-length novel of the year written by a woman and published in the United Kingdom. The prize is sponsored by liqueur brand Baileys and Audible, an online audiobook and podcast service.
Set in the Appalachian mountains in Virginia, this year's winning title is a reimagining of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield. It chronicles the struggles and triumphs of a young boy born into poverty as he navigates foster care, labour exploitation, addiction, love and loss.
“Barbara Kingsolver has written a towering, deeply powerful and significant book," Minchin stated. "In a year of outstanding fiction by women, we made a unanimous decision on Demon Copperhead as our winner. Brilliant and visceral, it is storytelling by an author at the top of her game.
"An exposé of modern America, its opioid crisis and the detrimental treatment of deprived and maligned communities, Demon Copperhead tackles universal themes – from addiction and poverty, to family, love, and the power of friendship and art – it packs a triumphant emotional punch, and is a novel that will withstand the test of time,” she added.
Congratulations to the winner! Did any of you guess right? With such a formidable shortlist, we're sure the judges had a hard time picking too.
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