British author Bernardine Evaristo poses with her book Girl, Woman, Other. She would later win the 2019 Booker Prize for Fiction, an honor she shared with Margaret Atwood.

Trailblazing author Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other, has been longlisted for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction. The book, which won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 2019, revolves around the lives of Black British women and has been hailed as ‘ambitious’ and ‘linguistically inventive.’

Bernardine Evaristo is the sole African writer on the list. Last year’s prize saw the most number of African authors represented on its list with two African authors appearing on the shortlist from an initial longlist that included three Africans.

The 16-strong longlist for the 2020 prize includes such big names as two-time Booker Prize winner Hillary Mantel for her yet-to-be-published novel The Mirror and the Light, the final installation in her critically acclaimed trilogy; previous Women’s Prize winner Ann Patchet for The Dutch House, and bestselling author Anne Enright for Actress.

This nomination comes after Girl, Woman, Other was longlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards. Evaristo is clearly having a phenomenal year!

The Women’s Prize Shortlist will be announced on 22 April and the winner on 3 June.

As noted by our Deputy Editor Otosirieze Obi-Young, if she wins the Women’s Prize, she’ll be the first writer ever to win the Booker and the Women’s Prize.

Keeping our fingers crossed!