The Women's Prize for Fiction 2013 was awarded to A. M. Homes for May We Be Forgiven (Viking). Homes was presented with the £30,000 prize on June 5 at a ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall in London.
"It's the first book award I've won," said Homes, who has written 10 books. She thanked her father, who passed away earlier this year, and her grandmother, who gave Homes money as a child to buy a typewriter. "She made me pay her back," quipped Homes.
The other shortlist books were Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver, Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple, and NW by Zadie Smith.
Founded in 1996 and formerly called the Orange Prize, the Women's Prize announced earlier this week that going forward the prize would be known as the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, as part of an ongoing partnership with Baileys liquer. In 2012, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller won the prize.
