Rathbones Folio prize: Zadie Smith makes female-dominated shortlist
(The Guardian Books News)

Eight books in contention for £30,000 award that has never been won by a woman include Zadie Smith´s story collection Grand Union and poet Fiona Benson´s Vertigo & GhostZadie Smith and Forward prize winner Fiona Benson are among six female authors shortlisted for this year´s Rathbones Folio prize, which has not yet been won by a woman.Set up in the wake of controversy around the 2011 Booker prize, which saw chair of judges Stella Rimington praising `readability` and books that `zip along`, to the dismay of parts of the literary establishment, the £30,000 prize rewards `the best work of literature of the year, regardless of form`. It has been won in the past by books including Raymond Antrobus´s poetry collection The Perseverance and Richard Lloyd Parry´s look at the aftermath of Japan´s 2011 disaster Ghosts of the Tsunami. Continue reading...