US author Barbara Kingsolver won the Orange Prize for Fiction on Wednesday for The Lacuna, chosen from a shortlist of books by six female writers that included Booker Prize winner Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.
Daisy Goodwin, chair of the judges, praised The Lacuna’s “breathtaking scale and shattering moments of poignancy.”
“It wasn’t a unanimous decision in the sense that we all said this was the winner, but I think it was fashionably consensual in that we all listened to each other’s point of view,” she said. “We decided to go for the book which aroused the most passion in the most people rather than settle for everyone’s second choice.”
The Independent newspaper’s reviewer said The Lacuna was “the first book in a long time that made me swap my bike for public transport, just so I could keep reading.”
The story centers around Harrison Shepherd, who follows his mother from household to household as she chases rich Mexican men and who comes into contact with real historical figures like the artist Frida Kahlo and Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky.
The narrative crosses between Mexico and the US and comes to the reader in the form of memoirs, letters and press cuttings kept by Shepherd’s stenographer despite his wish that they be burned.
“Through darkening years, political winds continue to toss him between north and south in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach — the lacuna — between truth and public presumption,” the US publisher said.
Kingsolver was one of three US authors nominated for the annual prize, which comes with a check for £30,000 (US$44,000).
The other two were Attica Locke (Black Water Rising) and Lorrie Moore (A Gate at the Stairs), who were joined by Britons Mantel and Rosie Alison (The Very Thought of You) as well as Monique Roffey, of British and Trinidadian descent, with The White Woman on the Green Bicycle. The prize, in its 15th year, honors the best novel of the year written in English by a woman. Previous winners include Marilynne Robinson for Home (last year), Rose Tremain for The Road Home (2008) and Zadie Smith for On Beauty (2006).
The Orange Prize has been criticized for honoring only women, but many figures in the publishing world defend the idea.
“It is widely recognized that women are far more willing to read books by both sexes than men, leaving too many talented female authors under-appreciated,” said Jonathan Ruppin of Foyles bookshop, commenting on the prize. “The Orange Prize really does help address the likelihood that there are quite a number of female writers, especially in Britain, who would be considered amongst the first rank of contemporary authors if they were men.”
Crowds in Bangladesh are flocking to snap photographs with an unlikely social media star — an albino buffalo with flowing blond hair nicknamed “Donald Trump” that is due to be sacrificed within days. Owner Zia Uddin Mridha, 38, said his brother named the 700kg bull over its flowing helmet of hair resembling the signature look of the US president. “My younger brother picked this name because of the buffalo’s extraordinary hair,” he said at his farm in Narayanganj, just outside the capital, Dhaka. Mridha said that a constant stream of curious visitors — social media fans, onlookers and children — have come throughout
The Bolivian government on Friday struck a deal with protesting miners, but was still grappling with blockades and demonstrations by other workers across La Paz. Other groups are still blocking access roads into the city, which is also the seat of the government. Police on Thursday prevented the miners from entering the main square by using tear gas, while the demonstrators hurled stones and explosives with slingshots. Protests against the policies of Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz have convulsed the Andean nation since early this month, and roadblocks were choking routes into La Paz throughout Friday, the national road authority said. Miners demanded that Paz
The Philippines said it has asked the country’s Supreme Court to allow it to arrest former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s chief drug war enforcer to stand trial in an international tribunal. The International Criminal Court (ICC) last week unsealed an arrest warrant against Philippine Senator Ronald dela Rosa, accusing him along with Duterte and other “coperpetrators” of the “crime against humanity of murder.” Dela Rosa briefly sought refuge in the Philippine Senate last week while asking the Philippine Supreme Court to stop an ongoing attempt by government agents to arrest him. “By his own conduct, he has placed himself outside the protection of
The researchers in Ireland looked at their computer screen, marveling at a medieval book tracked down in a Roman library. They flipped through its digitized pages and found their sought-after treasure: the oldest surviving English poem. “We were extremely surprised. We were speechless. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we first saw that,” said Elisabetta Magnanti, a visiting research fellow at Trinity College Dublin’s school of English. The poem was also within the main body of Latin text, she said, calling it “extraordinary.” Composed in Old English by a Northumbrian agricultural worker in the 7th century, Caedmon’s Hymn appears within some copies of
RSS