I’m mad that women’s fiction award exists, says… its two-time winner Barbara Kingslover
- Kingslover, 68, said books by women weren’t ‘reviewed’ in same way as men’s
- She won the award for Demon Copperhead, a retelling of Dickens’ classic tale
The first author to win the Women’s Prize for Fiction twice has revealed she is ‘mad’ the female-only award exists.
Barbara Kingslover said modern literature is still ‘struggling with a respect gap’ and warned that books by women were still not ‘discussed or reviewed’ in the same way as their male counterparts.
Earlier this month the US author, 68, made history by winning the Women’s Prize for Fiction for the second time after judges unanimously picked her 10th novel Demon Copperhead.
The book, a modern retelling of Charles Dickens’ classic David Copperfield, also won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize For Fiction last month alongside Hernan Diaz’s Trust.
Speaking to the i newspaper, Kingsolver said: ‘With Demon having received a good deal of respect, I guess I’ve arrived at the point where the world thinks I’m allowed to write whatever.’
Barbara Kingslover (pictured) said modern literature is still ‘struggling with a respect gap’ and warned that books by women were still not ‘discussed or reviewed’ in the same way as their male counterparts
The Women’s Prize for Fiction was founded in 1996 by author Kate Mosse after she noted the lack of female writers on the prestigious Booker Prize shortlist.
‘It amazes me that we are still struggling with a respect gap,’ Kingsolver told the i.
‘Our books are not discussed or reviewed or respected in the same way, so it really makes me mad that we still need this prize.’
Kingsolver was presented with the anonymously endowed £30,000 prize and bronze figurine ‘Bessie’ by the Chair of Judges Louise Minchin at a ceremony in London last week.
The other five shortlisted books were Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks, Trespasses by Louise Kennedy, Pod by Laline Paull, Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris and The Marriage Portrait by former winner Maggie O’Farrell.
Chair of Judges Louise Minchin said the judges voted unanimously for the ‘towering, deeply powerful and significant book’.
‘In a year of outstanding fiction by women, we made a unanimous decision on Demon Copperhead as our winner,’ she said.
‘Brilliant and visceral, it is storytelling by an author at the top of her game. We were all deeply moved by Demon, his gentle optimism, resilience and determination despite everything being set against him… it packs a triumphant emotional punch, and it is a novel that will withstand the test of time.’
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