LONDON (AP) – British writer Susanna Clarke won the prestigious Female Fiction Award on Wednesday for her fantasy novel “Piranesi.”
Clarke received the £ 30,000 ($ 41,000) award for his second novel, which was published 16 years after the first, “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell,” became a worldwide bestseller.
Set in a magical alternate reality, “Piranesi” is narrated by a man who lives in a labyrinthine house full of statues alone, except for a visitor known as the Other, who understands his entire universe. As you explore your domain, the character’s understanding of your world gradually changes, and so does the reader.
Clarke’s first novel, An Epic Magical Saga, was published with great success in 2004, sold over 4 million copies and was adapted for television by the BBC. Clarke has said that this second work was delayed by illness, struggling with chronic fatigue syndrome.
“Piranesi” was published in 2020, as much of the world was experiencing quarantines, isolation and disruption due to the coronavirus pandemic, and it struck a chord with many readers and critics.
Novelist Bernardine Evaristo, who chaired the jury for the Female Fiction Award, said Clarke had “created a world beyond our wildest imaginations that also tells us something profound about what it is to be human.”
Clarke was one of two British authors among the six finalists for the award, founded in 1996 and open to English-speaking female writers from around the world. Past winners include Zadie Smith, Tayari Jones and Maggie O’Farrell.
The other finalists this year were American Brit Bennett for “The Vanishing Half”, compatriot Patricia Lockwood for “No One is Talking About This”, Ghanaian-American Yaa Gyasi for “Transcendent Kingdom”, Barbadian Cherie Jones for “ How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House ”and the British Claire Fuller for“ Unsettled Ground ”.
AP