Hooray for The Russian Dreambook of Colour and Flight
Gina Ochsner's debut novel, The Russian Dreambook of Colour and Flight has been longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2009.
Posted: 15:29:00 18/03/09
The Orange Prize
We are delighted that Gina Ochsner's first novel, The Russian Dreambook of Colour and Flight has been longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2009.
Viv Groskop in the Observer has said of the book, 'This is one hell of a strange read - but in a good way. One part post-Soviet insanity to three parts magical realism. This book has echoes of Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated, Gary Shteyngart's laugh-out-loud Absurdistan and Olga Grushin's more romantic The Dream Life of Sukhanov.’
The Orange prize is the UK's only award for fiction written by a woman and is in its 14th year. The shortlist will be announced on 21st April.
The broadcaster, Fi Glover, who is the chair of judges, said it was a "wide open field". She added: "All the books on the longlist are there because each one, in its own way, is terrific in its ambition, quality and simple ability to entertain."
Nine of the the twenty authors on the longlist are American, including the former Nobel Prize for Literature winner, Toni Morrison, who has been nominated for A Mercy. Zoe Heller and Kate Grenville are surprise omissions.
The judging panel includes entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, journalist and academic Sarah Churchwell, writer Bidisha and the highly regarded Guardian women's editor, Kira Cochrane, who was herself longlisted for the 2005 prize for her novel Escape Routes for Beginners.
They will announce the £30,000 winner on 3rd June. Last year's winner was Rose Tremain for The Road Home.
Huge congratulations to Gina and fingers crossed for April 21st!
And you can find out more about Gina from her delightful Proust questionnaire and her revelatory Bookmunch interview.
Web Mistress
March 2009
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