Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell has won the £30,000 (about $39,070) 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction, the U.K.'s annual book award "celebrating and honouring fiction written by women." Hamnet is set in 1596 and inspired by the life and death of Shakespeare's only son.
Chair of judges Martha Lane Fox said that "Hamnet, while set long ago, like all truly great novels expresses something profound about the human experience that seems both extraordinarily current and at the same time, enduring."
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The 14-title longlist for the C$100,000 (about US$76,000) 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize, honoring "the finest in Canadian fiction," including novels, short story collections and graphic novels, has been announced. The shortlist will be unveiled October 5 and the winner November 9.
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The finalists in three categories for the $50,000 2020 Kirkus Prize have been chosen and can be seen here. Winners of the awards will be announced at a virtual ceremony hosted by Kirkus CEO Meg LaBorde Kuehn from the Austin Public Library in Austin, Tex., on November 5.