Adichie bags Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ has been named winner of the women’s prize for fiction of the last decade by both the public and a 10-strong judging panel. The award chose to mark its 20th anniversary by asking the chairs of judges of the past 10 years to pick their ‘best of […]

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ has been named winner of the women’s prize for fiction of the last decade by both the public and a 10-strong judging panel.
The award chose to mark its 20th anniversary by asking the chairs of judges of the past 10 years to pick their ‘best of the best’ winner from the last decade.
“This is a prize I have a lot of respect and admiration for – over the years it’s brought wonderful literature to a wide readership that might not have found many of the books” said the novelist. “I feel I am in very good company. To be selected as ‘Best of the Best’ of the past decade is such an honour. I’m very grateful and very happy.”
Andrea Levy’s Small Island, which won the award in 2004, had previously been named the ‘best of the best’ novel in the prize’s first decade.
Author and journalist Muriel Gray, who chaired the judging panel in 2007 when Adichie won the award at the age of just 29, praised the work, describing it as a benchmark for excellence in fiction writing.
Changing sponsorship has meant that the honour has been variously known over the past decade as the Women’s prize for fiction, the Orange prize for fiction, and the Orange Broadband prize for fiction before acquiring its current name in 2014.