Women’s Prize for Fiction launches new podcast series for 25th anniversary year

The Women’s Prize for Fiction is today launching 25 new episodes of its podcast in celebration of the award's 25th anniversary.

The latest series, in partnership with Baileys, will celebrate the best fiction written by women, welcoming influential names on to the show to discuss and debate the diverse back-catalogue of Women’s Prize-winning books, and exploring the bookshelves of inspirational women, said organisers.

Guests lined up for the podcast, which will release new episodes fortnightly, include Rizzle Kicks’ Jordan Stephens, bestselling writer and cook Melissa Hemsley, chair of judges and businesswoman Martha Lane Fox, writer and prize co-founder Kate Mosse (pictured), influencer Liv Purvis, founding editor-in-chief of Gal Dem magazine Liv Little and comedian Jessica Fostekew. The podcast will be hosted by Zing Tsjeng, VICE executive editor and author of the recent Forgotten Women series of books.

Tsjeng said: "I’m incredibly excited about hosting this series of the Women’s Prize podcast! There’s going to be some amazing discussions featuring really inspirational people, and I’m especially excited to hear about the life-changing books that sit on other women’s bookshelves. The podcast is the perfect way to celebrate everything the Prize has achieved over the past 25 years and will give us all the chance to consider what the next 25 years holds for women writers."

Running across the next 12 months, the podcast will feature three episode strands. Bookshelfie will feature 12 episodes exploring the bookshelves of influential women and invite them to talk about their life and work through the lens of the literature that helped shape them. #ReadingWomen's eight episodes will tie in with the Prize’s digital campaign encouraging people to read the 25 winners of the prize throughout 2020. On each episode, three well-known influencers from the worlds of arts, politics, feminism and comedy will discuss the past 24 prize winning books, from Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun.

Five special live recordings from exclusive events will be hosted throughout the 25th anniversary year, including the awards night itself.

The 2020 Women‚Äôs Prize for Fiction will be awarded on 3rd June at an awards ceremony in central London. The winner will receive an anonymously endowed cheque for £30,000 and a limited-edition bronze figurine known as a "Bessie", created and donated by the artist Grizel Niven.

Writer and activist Scarlett Curtis, internationally bestselling author Paula Hawkins, co-founder of the Black British Business Awards Melanie Eusebe, and author and comedian Viv Groskop will join Lane Fox on the judging panel.