Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie won the prize in 2007 and has been voted the winner of winners for the prize in its 25th year.
Nigerian-born author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been voted the best book to have won the Women’s Prize for fiction in its 25-year history.
Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun was voted the best book for the Women’s Prize for fiction in 2007. On the 25th year anniversary, the book has been chosen in a public vote from a list of 25 winners as the best of all previous winning books. Over 8,500 voters chose the author’s book as the winner of winners.
Other past winners include Zadie Smith, the late Andrea Levy, Lionel Shriver, Rose Tremain, and Maggie O’Farrell.
This is a one-off award to mark the anniversary of the prize which was formerly known as the Orange Prize and the Bailey’s Prize.
Commenting on the win Adichie said, “I’m especially moved to be voted Winner of Winners because this is the prize that first brought a wide readership to my work – and has also introduced me to the work of many talented writers.”
As her prize, she received a silver edition of the prize’s annual statuette, known as the Bessie.
On her part, author and playwright Kate Mosse, who doubles as the founder and director of the UK-based prize, congratulated Adichie saying she was “thrilled” Half of a Yellow Sun had won.
“Our aim has always been to promote and celebrate the classics of tomorrow today and to build a library of exceptional, diverse, outstanding international fiction written by women.”
“The Reading Women campaign has been the perfect way to introduce a new generation of readers to the brilliance of all of our 25 winners and to honor the phenomenal quality and range of women’s writing from all over the world,” she added.
Half of a Yellow Sun was published in 2006. It is a book set in Nigeria during the Biafran War. The book explores the end of colonialism, ethnic allegiances, class, race, and female empowerment.
It was made into a film starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Thandie Newton in 2013.
coined from businessinsider.com