So, without further ado, here’s the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021 shortlist:

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
How The One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

Speaking about the work that went into selecting the final six books for the shortlist, Evaristo, who led the judging panel, said the group were sad to cut “so many exceptional books,” but were proud to present the final selection.

“With this shortlist, we are excited to present a gloriously varied and thematically rich exploration of women’s fiction at its finest,” she said. “These novels will take the reader from a rural Britain left behind to the underbelly of a community in Barbados; from inside the hectic performance of social media to inside a family beset by addiction and oppression; from a tale of racial hierarchy in America to a mind-expanding tale of altered perceptions.”

The 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist has been announced