Bookshelfie: Women’s Prize Podcast

In this deeply personal conversation, comedian and writer Meera Syal discusses how seeing herself in books helped her make sense of her own experience, the weight of intergenerational trauma and how humour saved her life. 
Meera is one Britain’s best-loved comedy legends. She grew up in the small mining village of Essington in Staffordshire, where her Indian Punjabi parents settled after moving from New Delhi. Her early life there, as the only Asian family, later served as inspiration for her semi-autobiographical novel, Anita and Me, which was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction in 1997. Meera gained widespread recognition for her work in the late 1990s as a writer and performer in the multi-award-winning, iconic BBC comedy sketch show Goodness Gracious Me and for portraying the character Ummi in the International Emmy-award-winning TV series The Kumars at No. 42. In 2023, she was awarded the prestigious BAFTA Fellowship and last month saw the publication of her memoir, Vigilauntie.
7:32 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
17:14 Finding A Voice: Asian Women in Britain by Amrit Wilson
26:17 The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
34:11 Beloved by Toni Morrison
43:50 I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections by Nora Ephron
You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops. 
Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing. 
Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!
This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.
The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Women’s Prize Trust

Artist and performer anaiis explains how books influence her songwriting, the impact motherhood has had on her creative practice and why bell hooks has reframed her understanding of love. 
Born in Toulouse, France, anaiis grew up on the move. She was raised between Dakar, Dublin, and California, eventually settling in London where she lives now. Influenced by the work of Black thinkers and artists like Ella Fitzgerald, James Baldwin, bell hooks, Alice Walker and more, anaiis makes lush, genre-fluid music that explores themes like belonging, connection and motherhood. In 2018 she released her debut single, ‘Nina’, and since then her career has soared, seeing her release multiple albums, and share a stage with the likes of Erykah Badu and Daniel Caesar. Last year she released the album Devotion and the Black Divine to critical acclaim, and this summer she announced a worldwide tour and put out two singles: ‘Sunshine’ and ‘P4P’, each representing joy and rage respectively, and marking a continuation of her creative journey.
anaiis’ book choices are: 
07:39 Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
14:49 Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good by adrienne maree brown
21:36 Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
30:40 All About Love by bell hooks
38:58 Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa
You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops. 
Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing. 
Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!
This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.
The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Women’s Prize Trust

Yellowface author Rebecca F. Kuang joins Vick in the Bookshelfie studio to discuss her five favourite books by women, why Sylvia Plath’s diaries made her rethink female jealousy, and how losing her grandfather served as inspiration for her latest novel, Taipei Story. 
A trailblazing talent whose literary career has unfolded at an extraordinary pace, Rebecca is the #1 New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of Katabasis, Babel and global phenomenon Yellowface. She has won multiple awards including Fiction Book of the Year at the British Book Awards – twice! A Marshall Scholar, she has a masters in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and another in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford. She is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale, where she studies diaspora, contemporary Sinophone literature, and Asian American literature. Her new novel, Taipei Story, a profoundly moving coming-of-age story exploring first love, grief and cultural belonging, is out now.
Rebecca’s book choices are: 
12:45 Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
20:19 The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
30:27 The Tenth Muse by Catherine Chung
42:15 Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
50:11 Possession by A.S. Byatt
You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org  – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops. 
Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing. 
Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!
This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

A double bill for Toni Morrison in bestselling author Tayari Jones’ book picks – she explains why she’s her favourite author;  the need for deep, ferocious crying when reading; and her unexpected guilty pleasure – a good old murder mystery.
Tayari is the internationally bestselling author of five novels, including An American Marriage, which won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2019. It was also an Oprah’s Book Club selection, was included on Barack Obama’s summer reading list and has been published in two dozen countries, selling over 350,000 copies in the UK alone.
Tayari was born and lives in Atlanta, Georgia, and is currently professor of Creative Writing at Emory University, and an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University.
Her most recent novel, Kin, was an instant New York Times bestseller, and has been named a Best Book of the Year so Far. It’s another Oprah Book Club Selection; Oprah called it, “a masterpiece of a novel that will live with you long after you turn the last page.” 
Tayari Jones is a mentor for Originators 2027 – the Women’s Prize Trust’s mentorship and development program, dedicated to supporting emerging women fiction writers from across the United States, presented by CHANEL. Find out more here. 
Tayari’s book choices are: 
09:56  Jazz by Toni Morrison
17:14 Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
24:13 Faithful Place by Tana French
29:53 The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
36:33 Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org  – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops. 
Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing. 
Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!
This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

In this funny and uplifting conversation, novelist and screenwriter Maria Semple discusses her desire to re-write women in fiction, why she feels “naked” when writing books and her fascination with stoicism.
Maria used to work in television, producing and writing for sitcoms and comedy specials such as Arrested Development, The George Carlin Show and Mad About You, which earned her a Primetime Emmy nomination. Maria’s novels – Today Will Be Different, Where'd You Go, Bernadette, and This One Is Mine – have been translated into forty languages, and Where'd You Go, Bernadette has sold over 200 thousand copies in the UK alone and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2013. Go Gentle, her most recent novel, is out now. 
Maria’s book choices are: 
11:02 Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido
18:16 The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard
24:40 The Art Of Living by Epictetus
32:29 Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt
38:51 Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org  – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops. 
Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing. 
Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!
This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.