The Orange Prize

I believe there is a degree of serendipity in one's life. Have you ever had the experience of thinking about a person who you haven't seen for awhile only to find they are contacting you or you bump into them in the street.
Just the other day I found myself wondering about the Montana NZ book Awards: not one to ignore my intuition I looked up the website. What luck! The finalists for the 4 categories are to be announced on Tuesday [22nd June]. Great: I can put that news onto our blog; yes up-to-date information; in fact 1 step ahead; just how I like it!
From that site the name 'Barbara Kingsolver' caught my eye. I knew of her having heard her latest book being reviewed on National radio some time ago and I remember thinking it would be worth a read. Barbara Kingsolver has just won this year's Orange Prize with her book "The Lacuna": A novel set in the USA and Mexico which explores the themes of art and politics.
My thought processes then directed me towards researching what exactly the Orange Prize is.

It is an annual award which acknowledges a female fiction novelist and a new female writer from any part of the world. The inaugural prize went to a UK novelist, Helen Dunmore in 1996. Since then women from the USA, Canada and Africa have enriched the literary scene with novels from around the globe. The prize originated because it was generally felt by publishers, journalists, booksellers, librarians and reviewers, both male and female, that female authors were over-looked by major literary prizes. Kate Mosse is one of the co- founder members and the present director of the literary Orange Prize.
I feel particularly excited about my discovery and I encourage others to view the Orange Prize site if only to browse through the author list in search of a quality book. Looking over the past winners I have picked out a couple of authors : the 2004 winner, Andrea Levy and the 2007 recipient, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie . Both of these writers' have novels in our public library along with many other authors whose names I found printed on the website.
I hope serendipity graces your day.