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Debut writers among Orange Prize for Fiction nominees

15/04/2008

New novelists sit alongside established writers in the nominations for this year's Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction.

Rose Tremain, nominated in 2004, is shortlisted for The Road Home, while Nancy Huston's 11th novel Fault Lines is also nominated.

Among the first-time writers up for the award which honours women writers is Patricia Wood, whose novel Lottery was inspired by her father's real-life win in Washington State.

Canadian writer Heather O'Neill has made the shortlist for her debut Lullabies for Little Children while British writer Sadie Jones' The Outcast - which tells of a recently-released prisoner adapting to life in the outside world - is also nominated for the £30,000 prize.

The list is completed by fellow Briton Charlotte Mendelson, whose book When We Were Bad details a family coming to terms with its own dark secrets.

Kirsty Lang, chair of the judging panel, commented: "We spent a great deal of time in the judging meeting asking the question, 'Is this a book you feel passionately about? Is it a book that you might pass onto a friend and urge them to read?'"

"We all felt these six books passed that test."

She added: "I'm extremely pleased we have three first novels as well as some very established authors on a list that reflects the scope, variety and international breadth of the Orange Prize."

The winner of the prize, now in its 13th year, will be announced at the Royal Festival Hall in London's Southbank Centre on July 4th.