Literacy news

Joanna Trollope to chair the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2012

1 Aug 2011

Bestselling author, Joanna Trollope, has been confirmed as Chair of Judges for the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2012.

The Orange Prize for Fiction was set up in 1996 to celebrate and promote fiction by women throughout the world to the widest range of readers possible and is awarded for the best novel of the year written by a woman.

It is the first time a novelist has chaired the prize since the opening year, when the judging panel was chaired by Kate Mosse, the Orange Prize Co-Founder and Honorary Director.

Kate Mosse remarked:

We are delighted that Joanna Trollope has agreed to chair the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction. Not only is she one of the UK's most admired and best-loved novelists, she is also one of the most generous in terms both of the support she gives to fellow writers and the time she devotes to the promotion of reading and literacy.”

Joanna Trollope has been writing for over thirty years: from historical novels at the beginning of her career to her enormously successful contemporary works of fiction, many of which have been televised. The Rector's Wife was her first number one bestseller and made her into a household name and since then she has written eleven more contemporary novels, including the newly published Daughters in Law.

Joanna Trollope commented:

This is such an impressive prize. I have long been a fan of Kate Mosse, and I have admiringly watched the Orange Prize grow into an award of real stature.  

It has produced winners of true distinction and originality and I love the fact that it is generously and properly open to the world. I was so pleased to be invited to chair next year’s prize, and much look forward to working with the judges over the coming winter. It will be exciting – the Orange Prize always produces rewarding surprises.

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Tags: Adult literacy, Adults

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