The Dutch-Israeli author Yael van der Wouden has been awarded the prize for her novel ‘A Guardiã,’ published in Portugal by Edições Asa. The story is set in 1961 in the rural Netherlands, where a girl named Isabel lives in isolation, her life marked by strict routines until her fragile balance is disrupted by her brother’s girlfriend’s presence.
Initial distrust gives way to desire, and buried secrets emerge, including the origins of the family house, acquired after the deportation of Jews during the war.
In her acceptance speech, the ‘queer’ author emphasized the importance of accepting all identities and sexualities, revealing that in writing the book in 2021, she created characters without hope to give them what she couldn’t give herself—hope.
Van der Wouden warned that everyone is “witnesses and accomplices” to violence and has the power to “change.” She pointedly mentioned violence in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as against trans individuals.
Rachel Clarke, a palliative care physician with the UK National Health Service, won the second Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction with ‘The Story of a Heart.’ The work details the interconnected story of two children linked by a heart transplant, blending medical procedures with their human impact.
The narrative unfolds in 2017 when a nine-year-old girl from Devon named Keira was involved in a car accident that resulted in a catastrophic brain injury. Concurrently, a boy named Max, of the same age, had been hospitalized for eight months with a heart condition, kept alive by a mechanical heart. The story chronicles the transplant of Keira’s heart to Max.
During her acceptance speech, Clarke expressed sorrow over dark times the world is experiencing, referencing the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as conflicts in the streets of Los Angeles. Despite this, she expressed belief in human kindness, saying it was one of the driving forces behind the story she sought to tell.
“Because in this ugly, fractured world, it’s easy to forget that most people strive to do their best to be good,” she added.
Each winning author will receive £30,000 (35,600 euros).
This year marks the 30th edition of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, distinguished by a special award for Exceptional Contribution given to British writer Bernardine Evaristo, author of ‘Girl, Woman, Other,’ in this unique anniversary edition.
In the fiction category, the shortlisted novels included ‘Linda menina’ by Aria Aber, ‘De quatro’ by Miranda July, ‘Conta-me tudo’ by Elizabeth Strout, ‘Fundamentally’ by Nussaibah Younis, and ‘The persians’ by Sanam Mahloudji, the latter two unpublished in Portugal.
Finalists in the non-fiction category included Swedish singer-songwriter Neneh Cherry with ‘A Thousand Threads,’ British MP Yuan Yang with ‘Private Revolutions: Coming of Age in a New China,’ policy advisor Chloe Dalton with ‘Raising Hare,’ marine biologist Helen Scales with ‘What the Wild Sea Can Be,’ and historian Clare Mulley with ‘Agent Zo: The Untold Story of Fearless WW2 Resistance Fighter Elzbieta Zawacka.’
Established in 1996, the Women’s Prize annually honors the author of a book published in the United Kingdom and last year introduced a non-fiction category.
