Mantel joins seven first-time novelists on Orange Prize longlist
Hilary Mantel named on 20-stong longlist for Orange Prize for Fiction
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By DArren Estwick. |  |
Wednesday, 17, Mar 2010 10:27
By Richard James.
Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel has been named on the 20-stong longlist for the coveted Orange Prize for Fiction along with seven first-time novelists.
Mantel's historical novel Wolf Hall is joined on the list for the prize, which celebrates female writers, by works from fellow Booker nominee Sarah Waters and previous Orange Prize winner Andrea Levy.
The winner of the annual prize will receive a cheque for £300,000, with the shortlist announced on April 20th and the final announcement made on June 9th.
Chair of the 2010 judging panel, Daisy Goodwin, said of the 20 novels selected so far: "In the end we have chosen a muscular, original and pleasurable longlist that will appeal to all kinds of readers."
However, earlier she complained at having to wade through more than 100 novels by women writers, describing some of the works as "grim".
Speaking to the Guardian, she said: "There's not been much wit and not much joy, there's a lot of grimness out there.
"There are a lot of books about Asian sisters. There are a lot of books that start with a rape. Pleasure seems to have become a rather neglected element in publishing."
She added: "I think the misery memoir has had its day, but there are an awful lot of books out there which had not a shred of redemption in them. I'm more of a light and shade person and there does need to be some joy, not just misery.
"I was surprised at how little I laughed. and the ones where there was humour were much appreciated I can tell you."
Goodwin is joined on the judging panel by Baroness Neuberger, Michele Roberts, Miranda Sawyer, and Alexandra Shulman.
The Orange Prize for Fiction longlist:
Rosie Alison/The Very Thought of You
Eleanor Catton/The Rehearsal
Clare Clark/Savage Lands
Amanda Craig/Hearts and Minds
Roopa Farooki/The Way Things Look to Me
Rebecca Gowers/The Twisted Heart
M.J. Hyland/This is How
Sadie Jones/Small Wars
Barbara Kingsolver/The Lacuna
Laila Lalami/Secret Son
Andrea Levy/The Long Song
Attica Locke/Black Water Rising
Hilary Mantel/Wolf Hall
Maria McCann/The Wilding
Nadifa Mohamed/Black Mamba Boy
Lorrie Moore/A Gate at the Stairs
Monique Roffey/The White Woman on the Green Bicycle
Amy Sackville/The Still Point
Kathryn Stockett/The Help
Sarah Waters/The Little Stranger