Mountford, famous from Alan Sugar’s business reality show, will chair judges for women’s fiction award
Margaret Mountford, the former lawyer whose putdowns and raised eyebrows made her the stuff of legend on The Apprentice, will chair the judging panel for next year’s Baileys women’s prize for fiction.
Mountford, who took part in five series of Alan Sugar’s The Apprentice before leaving to gain a PhD in papyrology at UCL, will be joined by fellow judges Tracey Thorn, the Everything But The Girl singer and author of two memoirs, New Statesman contributing editor Laurie Penny, whose latest book Unspeakable Things is a dissection of modern feminism, the award-winning Turkish novelist Elif Shafak and BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty.
Launched in 1996 to celebrate fiction by women after the Booker’s failure to shortlist a single female author in 1991, the women’s prize is now in its 21st year, and has been won by names from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to Lionel Shriver.
“There are so many great female writers that chairing this year’s panel for the Baileys women’s prize for fiction is going to be a real challenge,” Mountford said in a statement. “I’m really looking forward to reading and comparing views on the books with my fellow judges.”
The £30,000 prize, which will be awarded on 8 June next year, is open to any woman writing in English.
Mountford, who took part in five series of Alan Sugar’s The Apprentice before leaving to gain a PhD in papyrology at UCL, will be joined by fellow judges Tracey Thorn, the Everything But The Girl singer and author of two memoirs, New Statesman contributing editor Laurie Penny, whose latest book Unspeakable Things is a dissection of modern feminism, the award-winning Turkish novelist Elif Shafak and BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty.
Launched in 1996 to celebrate fiction by women after the Booker’s failure to shortlist a single female author in 1991, the women’s prize is now in its 21st year, and has been won by names from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to Lionel Shriver.
“There are so many great female writers that chairing this year’s panel for the Baileys women’s prize for fiction is going to be a real challenge,” Mountford said in a statement. “I’m really looking forward to reading and comparing views on the books with my fellow judges.”
The £30,000 prize, which will be awarded on 8 June next year, is open to any woman writing in English.
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