orange prize

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you may know that I have an obsession with Ahdaf Soueif. This month she’s chairing the judging panel for the 2003 Orange Prize, for which the long list has been announced. The expected names are there of course: Zadie Smith, Alice Sebold, Carol Shields, Donna Tart, et cetera. But I was tickled to see Julie Otsuka’s name there as well. I just started When the Emperor was Divine and am loving it.
In other news, Soueif was also on the judging panel for the 2003 Independent Foreign Fiction prize. And she’ll also be giving a talk at the Lannan Foundation in April.