The Queen
has surprised shortlisted authors and book lovers ahead of the Women’s Prize for Fiction’s 30th annual awards ceremony.
Devoted reader Camilla dropped in at the event’s open-air venue in Bloomsbury, central London, to congratulate finalists and hail the founders of the award for having “brought the female voice from the margins of the literary world to its very centre”. Founder and author Kate Mosse, who invited Her Majesty to attend the anniversary event, said her presence had been kept secret: “Nobody knew, which is why people were so surprised. If you’re going to lay on the Queen, if it’s not Beyoncé, it’s got to be the actual Queen.”
She added: “You can tell when someone has read your book genuinely and when they’ve been given a briefing sheet. And she’s a reader, a genuine reader, and someone who genuinely champions women.”
Camilla arrived unannounced at the pop-up venue in Bedford Square and was greeted by Kate and Women’s Prize executive director Claire Shanahan. In the Green Room area, she was introduced to the six authors shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, including Nussaibah Younis, whose novel
Fundamentally
tells the story of an academic who travels to Iraq to deradicalise a teenage Islamic State recruit.
She joked that the competition was stiff between finalists, telling Camilla, “We are trying to take each other out. The champagne glasses are spiked – there could be one less standing by this afternoon!”
The Queen recognised Yael van der Wouden, author of
The Safekeep,
telling her: “We met at the Booker [Prize]. Good to see you again.”
And turning to
Tell Me Everything
writer Elizabeth Strout, she said: “I have read your books, they are lovely.”
“Good luck to you all,” she told the group. “I shall be thinking of you.”
Her Majesty was then introduced to the six shortlisted authors for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, including singer-songwriter and rapper Neneh Cherry, whose debut book,
A Thousand Threads
tells the story of her career.
“I wrote a memoir, a book about my life,” she told Camilla. “It took more than four years to write it and I’m still slightly recovering. It’s out there now, I have let it go, it’s out in the world.”
The Queen told Claire Mulley, whose
Agent Zo
tells the story of the Polish wartime resistance fighter Elzbieta Zawakca, “I think I will put that on my holiday reading list.”
And she delighted author Chloe Dalton by telling her she had read her memoir
Raising Hare
about swapping the rat race for a rural life. “Thank you so much, I am honoured,” she replied.
The Queen was then reunited with
Girl, Woman, Other
author Bernardine Evaristo, winner of The Women’s Prize Outstanding Contribution Award – a special one-off award for the 30th anniversary year.
There was a quick stop off in a pop-up Waterstones tent, where authors had been signing their books and Camilla was told the bar was kept open late for those queuing to meet their favourite writers. “Quite right,” she agreed.
On a visit to an audio stand playing a recording of readers’ favourite literary quotes, she chatted to Aurelie de Troyer, Audible’s head of regional content for Europe, about audiobooks. “The nice thing about it is that you can take it with you wherever you go,” said Camilla.
Making a speech in the Woolf tent in Bedford Square, Her Majesty said the launch of the women’s only prize in 1995 had “brought the female voice from the margins of the literary world to its very centre.” And she hailed it for having “transformed the literary landscape for women”.
She said: “Three decades later, your achievements are impressive. Budding authors have benefitted from the wisdom of those who have trodden the same path. Careers have been launched, bestsellers have flown off the shelves into the hands and hearts of the public, and each year you distribute 3,000 books to people in need. And you have forged a community of 16 million readers who love, in your own words, ‘original, accessible and brilliant’ literature.
“In short, you have transformed the literary landscape for women. If I might return to Virginia Woolf – who never won any kind of award for her work, but who did have this tent named after her – and misquote her, ‘A woman must have a prize of her own if she is to write fiction’.
“Happy birthday, congratulations and thank you to every one of you who has been involved over the last 30 years. And the best of British luck to all our wonderful finalists tomorrow!”
