The 2024 Women’s Prize for Fiction was won by American author of Sri Lankan descent VV Ganeshananthan for her novel, Brotherless Night. It is a story about a family fractured by the Sri Lankan civil war. Ganeshananthan received a cash prize of £30,000 and a bronze statuette named the “Bessie”.
Writer Monica Ali, chair of this year’s jury, said about the book: “Brotherless Night is a brilliant, compelling and deeply moving novel that bears witness to the intimate and epic-scale tragedies of the Sri Lankan civil war. In rich, evocative prose, Ganeshananthan creates a vivid sense of time and place and an indelible cast of characters. Her commitment to complexity and clear-eyed moral scrutiny combine with spellbinding storytelling to render Brotherless Night a masterpiece of historical fiction.”
Earlier this year, Brotherless Night also won the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, for which the author received a cash prize of $150,000.
A review on Scroll said “Brotherless Night is a commendably cohesive account of what happens to a people when their ethnic identity becomes the cause of their oppression and intended erasure. It turns a critical lens on the state’s failure, the excesses of militancy, as well as the extremely contentious role played in Sri Lanka by the Indian Peace Keeping Force, sent to resolve tension but soon transformed into yet another aggressor of the Tamil people.”
The inaugural Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction was awarded to Naomi Klein for her book Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World. She was also awarded a cash prize of £30,000 and an artwork known as the “Charlotte”. The book has been described as “a compelling critique of polarising trends in American and global politics, constructed around a relatable personal narrative”.
Suzahhan Lipscomb, chair of this year’s jury for the Non-Fiction prize, said about the book: “This brilliant and layered analysis demonstrates humour, insight and expertise. Klein’s writing is both deeply personal and impressively expansive. Doppelganger is a courageous, humane and optimistic call-to-arms that moves us beyond black and white, beyond Right and Left, inviting us instead to embrace the spaces in between.”
