2015 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist Predictions

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BAILEYS Women's Prize for Fiction
With the announcement of this year's Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction coming Monday, March 10th, I decided to revive the tradition of predicting the longlist.

Eligibility
The Baileys Prize is given to a novel written by a woman, originally in English, and published in the UK between April 1 of the last year and March 31 of the year the prize is awarded. Only the UK publishing date matters. This year, books had to be published between April 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015.

My predictions
As always, there are far more than twenty novels I think could (and/or should) be longlisted. There were some tough decisions to make, and I certainly don't envy the judges! I chose a mix of debuts, books already listed for other prizes, books that seem to be under the radar, and books from former winners, shortlisted, and longlisted authors. Here are my selections, alphabetically by title:


  • All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews (longlisted in 2009 for The Flying Troutmans)
  • The Country of Ice Cream Star by Sandra Newman
  • Dear Thief by Samantha Harvey (shortlisted in 2009 for Wilderness)
  • Euphoria by Lily King (my favorite read of 2014)
  • Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique 
  • Life Drawing by Robin Black
  • Lila by Marilynne Robinson (longlisted in 2006 for Gilead, won in 2009 for its sequel Home, and sure to be at least longlisted for this third volume)
  • Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932 by Francine Prose
  • The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
  • Outline by Rachel Cusk (shortlisted in 2007 for Arlington Park)
  • The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters (twice shortlisted plus once longlisted)
  • An Untamed State by Roxane Gay

  • The Unwitting by Ellen Feldan (shortlisted in 2009 for Scottsboro)
  • Upstairs at the Party by Linda Grant (twice longlisted, plus she won in 2000)
  • The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon
  • The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall (longlisted in 2004)
How will I fare? Check back after the longlist is announced Monday for my take on it. (update: here's the longlist.)

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Comments

  1. VasillyMarch 5, 2015 at 5:29 PM

    I always love reading your predictions. My reading has been pretty scarce for the past year or so. The only book I've read on here is An Untamed State. I'm hoping Boy Snow Bird by Helen Oyememi makes the list.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMarch 5, 2015 at 5:48 PM

    Great list! I haven't read that many books published within that time frame so I can't quite predict! But I sure can add to my TBR list!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Laurie CMarch 5, 2015 at 5:59 PM

    Sounds like a very plausible list to me! I've just started listening to the audiobook edition of Euphoria which is narrated by two of my favorite narrators, Xe Sands and Simon Vance. I also listened to The Paying Guests, which I thought was excellent! I also have many others on my TBR list that you list, but some I hadn't heard about before.

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  4. LindseyMarch 6, 2015 at 11:21 AM

    I have read terrifyingly few of these books (only Land of Love and Drowning), although many of them are on my tbr list. I'm just going to go to the library now and bring home a giant stack I can't hope to finish in time...:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousMarch 7, 2015 at 5:11 AM

    I love reading predictions like this. Even if they don't all make the real list, they do make a good reading list for me.

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownMarch 7, 2015 at 1:10 PM

    Great list! Three are new to me:
    The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon (think I need to buy this NOW!)
    Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932 by Francine Prose
    Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique (sounds great, but I don't think it is released in the UK until July)
    The rest all seem like very strong candidates for the longlist.I'd forgotten all about Life Drawing, but I remember so many people raving about it on its release. The rest I toyed with adding to my suggestion at some point. I look forward to seeing what they select!

    ReplyDelete

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