US writer A.M. Homes wins Women's Fiction Prize

[June 06, 2013]  LONDON (AP) -- American novelist A.M. Homes has won this year's Women's Prize for Fiction with her sixth novel, "May We Be Forgiven."

Homes beat bookmakers' favorite Hilary Mantel and three other finalists to win the 30,000-pound ($45,000) prize, awarded Wednesday at a ceremony in London's Royal Festival Hall.

Previously known as the Orange Prize, the prize is one of Britain's most prestigious literary awards.

Actress Miranda Richardson, who chaired a panel of judges, praised Home's novel, a story about two brothers, as a "dazzling, original, viscerally funny black comedy" and a "subversion of the American dream."

It defeated Mantel's Tudor saga "Bring Up the Bodies"; Barbara Kingsolver's "Flight Behavior"; Zadie Smith's "NW"; and Marie Semple's "Where'd You Go, Bernadette?"

The award, in its 18th year, celebrates writing by women in English from around the world.

[Associated Press]

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