Tayari Jones's "Extremely Intimate" Wins Women's Fiction Prize: NPR

Tayari Jones speaks at the Women In The World Summit held earlier this year in New York. Wednesday, Jones' novel An American wedding won the prestigious Women's Fiction Prize.

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Tayari Jones speaks at the Women In The World Summit held earlier this year in New York. Wednesday, Jones' novel An American wedding won the prestigious Women's Fiction Prize.

Mike Coppola / Getty Images

Less than two months after Tayari Jones won the Aspen Words Literary Award, the American author has claimed a new laurel: the Women's Fiction Prize. The judges chose his novel An American wedding at a ceremony Tuesday night in London, which was praised and a scholarship of nearly $ 40,000.

"It's an extremely intimate portrait of a marriage broken by racial injustice. It is a story of love, loss and loyalty, the resilience of the human spirit painted on a large political canvas – that illuminates America today, "Kate Williams, historian and chairman of the jury of this year, said in a statement released at the announcement.

"We all loved this brilliant book."

Jones' novel, which tells the story of a black man wrongfully convicted of rape and the catastrophic toll of the conviction for his relationship, beat five other finalists among the finalists of the award – including two, Anna Burns and Pat Barker, were past winners of what was once known as the Man Booker Award.

"I was not expecting to win.The selection was so strong and I was honored to be among them, but I did not know if I would win," Jones said at the ceremony. "I did not write a speech!"

Yet, the novel has not been alien to breathtaking praise.

Before An American wedding Won the Aspen Prize in April, raising $ 35,000 to the author. The confrontation with difficult social problems was also welcomed by former President Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey, who added her to her popular reading club.

If you do not know the Women's Fiction Prize, you may know the prestigious award under another name. It was known as the Baileys Award – for its main sponsor at the time – and before that, it bore another nickname – perhaps the best known: the Orange Award.