The £30,000 Orange Prize for Fiction, the UK's only annual book award for fiction written by a woman, today announces the 2005 long list of 20 novels. Now in its 10th year, the Orange Prize celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women's writing. The short list will be published on April 18 and the prize will be announced on June 7.

There are seven first novels on this year’s list, which also carries the highest ever number of British authors (13). None of the authors on this year’s longlist has ever appeared on the Orange Prize short list.

Kate Atkinson: Case Histories
Doubleday
Clare Clark: The Great Stink
Viking (first novel)
Kira Cochrane: Escape Routes for Beginners
Simon & Schuster
Joolz Denby: Billie Morgan
Serpent's Tail
Anita Desai: The Zigzag Way
Chatto & Windus
Christine Dwyer Hickey: Tatty
New Island
Patricia Ferguson: It So Happens
Solidus
Melanie Finn: Away From You
Penguin (first novel)
Jane Gardam: Old Filth
Chatto & Windus
Sue Gee: The Mysteries of Glass
Review
Miranda Hearn: Nelson's Daughter
Sceptre
Ingrid Hill: Ursula, Under
Jonathan Cape (first novel)
Sheri Holman: The Mammoth Cheese
Virago
Marina Lewycka: A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
Viking (first novel)
Nell Leyshon: Black Dirt
Picador (first novel)
Michelle Lovric: The Remedy
Virago
Maile Meloy: Liars and Saints
John Murray (first novel)
Joyce Carol Oates: The Falls
Fourth Estate
Lionel Shriver: We Need to Talk About Kevin
Serpent's Tail
Tricia Wastvedt: The River
Viking (first novel)

The judges for the 2005 Orange Prize for Fiction are Jenni Murray, OBE, broadcaster and author (Chair), Jo Brand, comedienne and author, Joanne Harris, author, Jude Kelly OBE, theatre director and Moira Stuart, OBE, broadcaster.

"There was a high level of agreement among the judges on the titles for the longlist, which includes inspiring works from established and debut authors. The novels are both varied in style and subject matter, and the themes covered are intriguing and original. I am very much looking forward to deliberating the shortlist with my fellow judges," commented Jenni Murray, chair of the judges.

The prize was set up in 1996 to celebrate and promote fiction by women throughout the world to the widest range of readers possible and is awarded for the best novel of the year written by a woman. This year's longlist honours both new and well-established writers, featuring seven first novels as well as two authors who have been previously longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction: Anita Desai and Joyce Carol Oates. Any woman writing in English, whatever her nationality, country of residence, age or subject matter, is eligible. The winner will receive a cheque for £30,000 and a limited edition bronze known as a "Bessie", created and donated by the artist Grizel Niven.

www.orangeprize.co.uk

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