The longlist for The Comedy Women In Print Prize – the UK and Ireland’s only awards to shine a light on books by funny women – has been announced. And - with us all on the lookout for a perfect new book recommendation - it couldn’t be a better time for it.
The CWIP Prize was launched by actress, author and stand-up Helen Lederer in 2019 in response to the lack of exposure for female comedy writing, and as a way of celebrating fresh and established talent. She said: ‘I’m relieved the longlisted titles reflect both anti-snobbery and a huge respect for literary wit. A new but necessary punctuation mark highlighting the visibility of women’s wit on the page.’
Marian Keyes, Chair of Judges for the CWIP Published Novels Prize, added: ‘I am absolutely delighted with our longlist. The range is glorious – everything from lighthearted commercial fiction to literary fiction – it’s a demonstration of all the different ways in which women can be funny in print. It was a pleasure and very exciting to read all ninety submissions, and this is a list that I’m very proud of.’
If you’re on the lookout for a read to cheer you up, here is the longlist in full...
14 Books To Make You Laugh: The Comedy Women In Print Prize Longlist 2020
1 of 14The Nursery by Asia Mackay (Bonnier Books UK/ Zaffre)
3 of 14Reasons to be Cheerful by Nina Stibbe (Penguin Random House)
4 of 14The Blessed Girl by Angela Makholwa (Bloomsbury Publishing)
5 of 14So Lucky by Dawn O'Porter (HarperCollins UK)
6 of 14In the Crypt with a Candlestick by Daisy Waugh (Little, Brown Book Group)
7 of 14Diary of a Confused Feminist by Kate Weston (Hachette Children's Group)
8 of 14Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Vampire Menace by Olga Wojtas (Saraband)
9 of 14Christmas Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella (Transworld Publishers / Bantam Press)
10 of 14Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams (Hachette UK / Trapeze)
11 of 14The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman (Headline Publishing Group)
13 of 14