Fi Glover to chair Orange judges
18.12.08 Katie Allen writing in The Bookseller

Broadcaster Fi Glover is to chair the judging panel for the 2009 Orange Prize for Fiction.

The other four judges are: writer and novelist Bidisha, journalist and University of East Anglia academic Sarah Churchwell, journalist Kira Cochrane and entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox.

Glover said: "I am delighted to be asked to chair this year's Orange Prize. I can't think of a better way to combat the vagaries and uncertainties of the world around us, than to lose myself in the wisdom and wonder of women's fiction."

The winner will receive a cheque for £30,000 and a limited-edition bronze figurine known as a 'Bessie'. Last year's winner was Rose Tremain for The Road Home (Vintage).

The judging panel for the Orange Award for New Writers has also been announced. BBC World News presenter Mishal Husain will chair, with Evening Standard chief arts correspondent Louise Jury and author (and previous New Writers winner) Diana Evans also judging.

Husain said: "I'm delighted to be chairing the prize—it's a chance to see the range of new talent among women writers from across the world and I look forward to a voyage of discovery in finding this year's winner."

The winner will receive a £10,000 bursary from Orange in partnership with the Arts Council England. The prize is aimed at debut fiction, including novels, short-story collections and novellas, written by women of any age or nationality and published as a book in the UK.

Last year, Joanna Kavenna won for Inglorious (Faber).The Orange Prize is now in its 14th year, and celebrates "excellence, innovation and accessibility and the best of outstanding international fiction in women's writing".