Anne Enright and Claire Kilroy make Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist

Anne Enright and Claire Kilroy have been shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2024, alongside Isabella Hammad, V V Ganeshananthan, Kate Grenville and Aube Rey Lescure.

Three of the authors have previously been nominated for the prize, now in its 29th year: Ganeshananthan was longlisted in 2009; Anne Enright has been longlisted twice (in 2008 and 2020) and shortlisted twice (in 2012 and 2016); and Kate Grenville won the prize in 2001 for The Idea of Perfection (Picador).

Ganeshananthan is shortlisted this year for Brotherless Night (Viking), Enright for The Wren, The Wren (Jonathan Cape) and Grenville for Restless Dolly Maunder (Canongate). Also in contention are Isabella Hammad’s Enter Ghost (Jonathan Cape); Clair Kilroy’s Soldier Sailor (Faber & Faber) and Aube Rey Lescure’s River East, River West (Duckworth Books), the only debut novel on the shortlist.

Monica Ali, chair of judges, said: “This year’s shortlist features six brilliant, thought-provoking and spell-binding novels that between them capture an enormous breadth of the human experience. Readers will be captivated by the characters, the luminous writing and the exquisite storytelling. Each book is gloriously compelling and inventive and lingers in the heart and mind long after the final page.”

Ali is joined on the judging panel by author Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ; author and illustrator Laura Dockrill; actor Indira Varma; and presenter and author Anna Whitehouse.

The winner of the 2024 Women’s Prize for Fiction will be announced on Thursday 13th June 2024 at the Women’s Prize Trust’s summer party in central London, along with the inaugural winner of the 2024 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction. The winner will receive a cheque for £30,000, anonymously endowed, along with a limited-edition bronze statuette known as the "Bessie", created and donated by the artist Grizel Niven.