Hello Meltingpot Readers,
Today is a big day for one of my favorite American authors, Tayari Jones. Her book, An American Marriage just won the Women’s Prize for fiction in the UK. The Women’s Prize is the only literary award specifically designated for women in the UK and Tayari Jones beat out a lot of other impressive writers.
Yes, An American Marriage has already picked up a bunch of awards, yes, Oprah selected it for her book club and is producing the movie version, yes, Issa Rae just optioned one of Jones’ earlier novels, Silver Sparrow for movie development, but the Women’s Prize is still a HUGE deal for a novelist, particularly an American novelist competing against British authors.
“I am thrilled and honoured. I wasn’t expecting to win,” Jones was quoted in The Guardian newspaper. She went on to add, “The shortlist was so strong and I was honoured to be among them but I had no idea whether I would win.”
I read An American Marriage soon after it came out and reviewed it here on The Meltingpot. Here’s how I summed it up:
The story is urgently relevant to the times we’re living in now, the characters feel familiar yet wholly unique and the emotion provoked in the telling will leave you breathless. All in all, An American Marriage is an excellent story well told.
To read the full review, check out the original post. In the meantime, I wish Tayari Jones all the happiness on this major career achievement. And FYI, if you haven’t read this phenomenal book, it’s now in paperback so you have no excuse.
Peace!
