Women's Prize to hold online festival

The Women's Prize for Fiction is holding its first ever online festival, featuring three evenings of interviews with shortlisted authors, readings, behind-the-scenes content and live Q&As.

Actors including Kim Cattrall, Anne-Marie Duff and Ben Miles will join the shortlisted authors for the event, which runs from 6th to 8th September and marks the prize's 25th year.

Each night, two shortlisted authors will be showcased with interviews, tours of their homes or inspirational locations, insights into their writing process and readings from their work by actors.

Books shortlisted this year are Angie Cruz's Dominicana (John Murray), Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (Hamish Hamilton), A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes (Mantle), The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel (4th Estate), Hamnet by Maggie O’ Farrell (Headline) and Weather by Jenny Offill (Granta).

The ticketed events also allow audiences to interact with the authors in a live Q&As, chaired by the founder director of the Women’s Prize, Kate Mosse.

On 9th September, ticket holders can join Martha Lane Fox, chair of the 2020 judging panel, as she announces this year's winner. It will be followed by a Q&A where, for the first time, the public can interact with the winner and ask questions.

Mosse said: “Like everyone during these challenging times, the WPFF has worked hard not only to adapt to current circumstances but also to seize the opportunity to engage even more widely with readers everywhere and with ever more diverse audiences. This four-day festival of digital events, culminating in the announcement of the 2020 WPFF winner, will both give a global audience a front-row seat to hear the six amazing novelists on the shortlist and offer passionate readers, wherever they are, whoever they are, the chance to engage directly with the writers they admire. It's a great way to celebrate our 25th year.”

There is also an opportunity to buy a discounted copy of one 2020 shortlisted book with free postage, courtesy of Women’s Prize bookselling partner Waterstones. Ticket buyers can also choose to gift a donation to the Women's Prize Trust, to bolster the charity’s work.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit Women's Prize Live.