Maggie O'Farrell wins 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction

The winner of this year's Women's Prize for Fiction is Maggie O'Farrell, who won for her novel Hamnet and Judith!

Founded in 1996, The Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly known as The Orange Prize and The Baileys Women's Prize) is the UK’s most prestigious annual book award celebrating fiction written by women. It comes with a £30,000 prize.

Hamnet and Judith, originally published in the UK under the title Hamnet, follows a family torn apart by the bubonic plague in 1596 England. The story is inspired by the life and death of William Shakespeare's only son.

Congratulations, Maggie O'Farrell! Find out more about the 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction here.

September's Author of the Month: ELENA FERRANTE

Named one of 2016’s most influential people by TIME Magazine and frequently touted as a future Nobel Prize-winner, Elena Ferrante has become one of the world’s most read and beloved writers. The author of The Days of Abandonment, which was made into a film directed by Roberto Faenza, Troubling Love, adapted by Mario Martone, and The Lost Daughter, soon to be a major motion picture directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and starring Oscar Award-winner Olivia Colman. She is also the author of Incidental Inventions, illustrated by Andrea Ucini, Frantumaglia: A Writer’s Journey, and The Beach at Night, illustrated by Mara Cerri. The four volumes known as the “Neapolitan quartet” (My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child) were published by Europa Editions in English between 2012 and 2015. My Brilliant Friend, the HBO series directed by Saverio Costanzo, premiered in 2018.

Ferrante’s powerful new novel, The Lying Life of Adults, translated by Ann Goldstein, is set in a divided Naples. Giovanna’s pretty face is changing, turning ugly, at least so her father thinks. Giovanna, he says, looks more like her Aunt Vittoria every day. But can it be true? Is she really changing? Is she turning into her Aunt Vittoria, a woman she hardly knows but whom her mother and father clearly despise? Surely there is a mirror somewhere in which she can see herself as she truly is. Giovanna is searching for her reflection in two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: Naples of the heights, which assumes a mask of refinement, and Naples of the depths, a place of excess and vulgarity. She moves from one to the other in search of the truth, but neither city seems to offer answers or escape.

On Tuesday, September 15, 2020 at 7:00 PM (EST), stream a live online event with translator Ann Goldstein as she discusses The Lying Life of Adults with Elizabeth Renzetti (The Globe and Mail). This is a ticketed event presented with Europa Editions and Flying Books. For more information and to get your ticket, please visit this page.

Welcome Back to the Community Classroom

We’re excited to announce that our Community Classroom is once again open for registrations! Starting in September 2020, we will be offering a mix of online and socially distanced in-person classes.

Online classes will take place over Zoom video conferencing and maintain the interactive learning environment of our physical classroom, which you can now experience from the comfort and safety of your own home. PLUS, you can attend from anywhere on the planet — all you need is a computer and stable internet connection.

More information and up-to-date class listings are available on this page.

August Author of the Month: SHARI LAPENA

Shari Lapena is the internationally bestselling author of the thrillers The Couple Next Door, A Stranger in the House and An Unwanted Guest, which have all been New York Times and Sunday Times bestsellers. Her books have been sold in thirty-five territories around the world. She was a lawyer and an English teacher before turning her hand to fiction, and she currently lives in Toronto.

Lapena's newest book is a domestic suspence thriller, The End of Her.

Stephanie and Patrick are adjusting to life with their colicky twin girls. The babies are a handful, but even as Stephanie struggles with the disorientation of sleep deprivation, there’s one thing she’s sure of: she has all she ever wanted.

Then Erica, a woman from Patrick’s past, appears and makes a disturbing accusation. Patrick had always said his first wife’s death was an accident, but now Erica claims it was murder.

Patrick insists he’s innocent, that this is nothing but a blackmail attempt. Still, Erica knows things about Patrick — things that make Stephanie begin to question her husband. Stephanie isn’t sure what, or who, to believe. As Stephanie’s trust in Patrick begins to falter, Patrick stands to lose everything. Is Patrick telling the truth, or has Stephanie made a terrible mistake?