Following up on her recent Pulitzer Prize win, Barbara Kingsolver adds to her burgeoning trophy collection with this year’s Women’s Prize for the David Copperfield-inspired novel Demon Copperhead. The 68-year-old author, is the first two-time recipient of the coveted award, having won in 2010 for The Lacuna.
Kingsolver's tale of perseverance and survival follows a plucky boy born to a single mother amid the poverty and trailer parks of the southern Appalachia region, which the author also calls home. Chair of judges Louise Minchin hailed Kingsolver’s prize-winning epic at an announcement ceremony in London, “Brilliant and visceral, it is storytelling by an author at the top of her game. We were all deeply moved by Demon, his gentle optimism, resilience and determination despite everything being set against him.”
The prestigious Women's Prize for Fiction is awarded annually to a female author for the best novel in English published in the UK the preceding year. Kingsolver edged out a talented field of 6 finalists, including Louise Kennedy (Trespasses) and Maggie O'Farrell (The Marriage Portrait).
By Barbara Kingsolver
By Priscilla Morris (Not Yet Available on Tertulia)