Barbara Kingsolver wins Women’s Prize for fiction with ‘Demon Copperhead’
LONDON (AP) — American novelist Barbara Kingsolver won the prestigious Women’s Prize for Fiction for a second time Wednesday with “Demon Copperhead,” the Dickens-inspired tale of a boy’s struggle against the odds.
Kingsolver’s coming-of-age story set in an Appalachia scarred by poverty and opioid addiction was announced as winner of the 30,000 pounds ($38,000) award at a ceremony in London.
Kingsolver, 68, also won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for the novel, which transplants Charles Dickens’ “David Copperfield” to modern-day southwest Virginia, where the author lives.
“Lightning strikes twice,” said Kingsolver, who previously won the Women’s Prize in 2010 for “The Lacuna.”
Journalist Louise Minchin, who chaired the Women’s Prize judging panel, said the winning novel was “a towering, deeply powerful and significant book.”
“’Demon Copperhead’ tackles universal themes – from addiction and poverty, to family, love, and the power of friendship and art,” Minchin said. “It packs a triumphant emotional punch, and it is a novel that will withstand the test of time.”
Kingsolver has long woven social issues into her novels, which include “The Bean Trees” and “The Poisonwood Bible,” and helped establish the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. Oprah Winfrey chose “Demon Copperhead” for her book club last year.
“Literature is how we make our hearts grow bigger, and that is how we change the world,” Kingsolver said after winning the prize.
Kingsolver beat five other Women’s Prize finalists, including Maggie O’Farrell’s Italian Renaissance tale “The Marriage Portrait” and Laline Paull’s dolphin drama “Pod.”
Founded in 1996, the prize is open to female English-language writers from any country. Previous winners include Zadie Smith, Tayari Jones and Susanna Clarke. Last year’s prize went to Canadian-American novelist Ruth Ozeki for “The Book of Form and Emptiness.”