Barbara Kingsolver was awarded the Women’s Prize for Fiction for her novel Demon Copperhead, making her the first author in history to win the prize twice. The author first won the U.K. award, then called the Orange Prize for Fiction, in 2010 for The Lacuna.
Kingsolver’s novel, published last October by Harper, tells the story of the impoverished son of a single mother dealing with loss and addiction in southern Appalachia. A critic for Kirkus praised the novel, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, as “an angry, powerful book seething with love and outrage for a community too often stereotyped or ignored.”
Kingsolver was announced as the winner at a ceremony Wednesday evening in London. In her acceptance speech, Kingsolver paid tribute to her fellow finalists, saying, “Lightning strikes twice. This is a surprise. The best part of this has been…getting to meet and be friends with these five peers, these amazing writers.”
Louise Minchin, the chair of judges for the award, said, “Barbara Kingsolver has written a towering, deeply powerful and significant book…. An exposé of modern America, its opioid crisis and the detrimental treatment of deprived and maligned communities, Demon Copperhead tackles universal themes—from addiction and poverty, to family, love, and the power of friendship and art—it packs a triumphant emotional punch, and is a novel that will withstand the test of time.”
The Women’s Prize was first awarded in 1996, to Helen Dunmore’s A Spell of Winter. Other previous winners have included Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto, Zadie Smith’s On Beauty, and Tayari Jones’ An American Marriage.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
