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2015 Folio Prize for Fiction shortlist announced

Posted on 9th February 2015 by Jonathan O'Brien

This afternoon at an event at the British Library, the shortlist for the Folio Prize for Fiction 2015 was announced. Now in it's second year, the prize aims to recognise the best offerings in literature and is open to all genres and all forms of fiction. See below the cut for the eight titles on this year's shortlist.

The Folio Prize 2015 shortlist in full:

10:04 by Ben Lerner

All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews

Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill

Dust by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor

Family Life by Akhil Sharma

How to be Both by Ali Smith

Nora Webster by Colm Toibin

Outline by Rachel Cusk

A varied selection this year with the authors ranging from across the world. The wide selection includes established writers such as Colm Toibin and Ali Smith joined by newer names like Ben Lerner and Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor.

There's a very strong showing from independent publishers with Faber and Granta publishing six of the eight books. Conversely, the other two books are published by the world's largest English language publisher, Penguin Random House.

The 2015 judging panel consists of William Fiennes, Rachel Cooke, Mohsin Hamid, A. M. Homes and Deborah Levy, all drawn from the members of the Folio Academy.

Announcing the shortlist, Chair of Judges William Fiennes, said:

"This shortlist is the result of months of reading and hours of passionate conversation. The eight books we've chosen explore vast themes - time, loss, belonging, war, solitude, marriage and family, the making and the mystery of art – with amazing vitality and grace.

"They manage to be both epic and intimate – in fact, they show those dimensions to be two sides of the same coin. They've surprised, moved, challenged and enchanted us. They've made us laugh. They've grown and deepened when we read them again.

"But it's not just the richness and fire of the individual books. We're excited by the range of ideas, voices and approaches represented here, and by the way our shortlist shows the novel refreshing itself, reaching out for new shapes and strategies, still discovering what it might be, what it might do."

The winner of the £40,000 prize will be announced 23rd March and mark the culmination of the second Folio Fiction Prize Festival.

Read extracts from nominee Colm Toibin's Nora Webster, our current book of the month, or Ali Smith's How to be Both.