Posted on June 6, 2019 at 11:00 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
2019 has been a good year for author Tayari Jones.
In less than two months, she’s won two prizes for her novel An American Marriage: first the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and now the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Jones received the award — and a cash prize of nearly $40,000 — at a ceremony in London on Tuesday night.
An American Marriage is the story of a black man wrongly convicted of rape and the toll the conviction takes on his relationship.
Kate Williams, historian and chair of the judging panel, said in a statement that all of the judges loved the “brilliant” novel.
“This is an exquisitely intimate portrait of a marriage shattered by racial injustice,” she said. “It is a story of love, loss and loyalty, the resilience of the human spirit painted on a big political canvas — that shines a light on today's America.”
The Women’s Prize for Fiction, which has previously been known as the Baileys Prize and the Orange Prize, aims to celebrate originality, accessibility, and excellence in writing by women.
Categories: Today in Books