Kate Grenville’s Restless Dolly Maunder is shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Grenville is the first Australian author ever to be shortlisted twice for this award. She won the Women’s Prize for Fiction (then called the Orange Prize) in 2001 for her novel The Idea of Perfection.

About her 2024 shortlisting, Grenville commented:

‘I’m thrilled beyond words to be shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. What an honour to be standing beside so many powerful books bringing women’s experiences to readers. Women’s books have so often been overlooked in the big noisy world of literary prizes – the Women’s Prize has been a really important part of changing that. I’m hugely grateful for having being awarded it for The Idea of Perfection in 2001 – it gave my writing life a second chance when it seemed to be over. Now, I can only think how astonished and delighted my grandmother would be, to have her story brought to the world in this way.’  

Kate’s publisher at Text, Michael Heyward, observed:

‘What makes Restless Dolly Maunder so compelling and moving to read is that it fully imagines the life of Kate Grenville’s grandmother without inventing or embellishing the details of her life. Fiction is about understanding what it means to see the world through someone else’s eyes, and that’s why Restless Dolly Maunder is a great novel. Everyone at Text congratulates Kate on her marvellous achievement.’

Restless Dolly Maunder, closely based on the life of the author’s grandmother, was first released in Australia in hardcover on 18 July 2023. A stunning paperback edition will be available from 30 April.

The winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2024 will be announced at the Women’s Prize Trust Summer Party on Thursday 13 June from 4.00pm BST [1.00am on 14 June AEST].

The winning author receives a cheque for £30,000.

Last year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction winner was Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, which also received the Pulitzer Prize. The previous year the winner was Ruth Ozeki’s The Book of Form and Emptiness.

Kate Grenville is based in Melbourne and is available for interview. 

Please contact Emily Booth
Tel: 0412 407 460
emily.booth@textpublishing.com.au