For the second time in four years, our shadow panel winner is a book that didn’t make the official shortlist. Elmet is a superb novel about outsiders looking at class, power, violence, gender and sexuality. I hope, considering the number of prizes the book has now been listed for, it has a wide readership.
The shadow panel discussions this year were the most intense we’ve ever had. There were some very strong feelings about some of the books and we had quite a discussion about what constitutes fiction.
The book that came a close second for us was Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing which shares some similarities with Elmet in terms of its themes but is also a book about race and time and how the America of today can’t be disconnected from its history. Again, I hope it has a wide readership.
The official winner of The Women’s Prize for Fiction is announced tonight. There’s coverage on The Women’s Prize’s social media channels from 6.45pm.
The Writes of Womxn 
Absolutely who I would have chosen had it been shortlisted! I’m backing Sight but would also be very happy to see Sing, Unburied, Sing win.
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Interesting. I’ve already broken rank on Twitter so my personal winner would be When I Hit You, which didn’t make our shadow panel shortlist…
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I thought that was brilliant as well. I think this is one of the strongest Women’s Prize shortlists I can remember. Would be happy with any of them winning except The Idiot (and I still enjoyed The Idiot).
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