Hey there! If you’re one of our UK or Northern Irish readers, stop reading and go vote! If you’re in the US, and would like a distraction from…well, mostly everything, then we have an important announcement for you:
Naomi Alderman’s The Power has won the Baileys Prize for Women’s Fiction!
Courtesy of http://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/
Alderman’s book is also the first science fiction work to win the prize, which is a huge win for genre fans (like me…and you, I’m sure). Alderman’s win comes just over a decade after her debut novel Disobedience, won the 2006 Orange Award for New Writers.
Tessa Ross, 2017 Chair of Judges, said: “The judges and I were thrilled to make this decision. We debated this wonderful shortlist for many hours but kept returning to Naomi Alderman’s brilliantly imagined dystopia – her big ideas and her fantastic imagination.”
The novel has been described as feminist science fiction, and asks the question what is power: who has it, how do you get it, and what does it do when you have it? And, when you have power, how long before power corrupts you? It follows four main characters: Roxy, the daughter of a London crime lord; Tunde, a journalism student in Lagos; Allie, from the southern states of the US and Margo, a low-level politician. They all feature in a combination of page-turning thriller and thought experiment that attacks some of the biggest issues of our times, including religion, gender politics and censorship.
And if this sounds a bit like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, there’s some good reasons for that; Margaret Atwood actually took Alderman under her wing when her career was just beginning, and the two remain close friends. So those of you currently reading or watching The Handmaid’s Tale, be sure to add this one to your list!
Unfortunately, Alderman’s super-sensational book won’t be released in the US until October of this year, but you can bet we’ll be making a big deal about it when it does! Here’s the cover image to whet your appetite:
Congrats to Naomi Alderman from the Free for All!
"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free." ~Frederick Douglass
