Literary Fifteen 2024

A reading challenge sampling 15 literary awards and hopefully finding some of your best reads in 2024.

The prizes will take you to several places around the world and offers translated fiction, poetry, non-fiction, short stories, fantasy, political novels, queer lit and much more. The prompts & literary prizes:

1. Aspen Words – longlist is already here!!!

2. Dublin Literary Award

3. OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature

4. International Booker

5. Carol Shields Prize for Fiction

6. Jhalak Prize

7. Lambda Literary Award

8. Ignyte Awards

9. AKO Caine Prize for African Writing

10. The Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction

11. Polari Book Prize

12. JCB Prize for Fiction

13. National Book Award for Translated Fiction

14. Warwick Prize for Women in Translation

15. Award of your choice

Rules:
Read (or DNF) at least one story nominated for a literary award.

If you want more, read for 2 or more prizes. Or read 1 or more for a prize.

It doesn’t matter how much you read – any level of participation counts. Read as much or little as you want to – read because you want to.
PS. This is also a reminder to myself to not try to do it all even when you shouldn’t.

Which prize are you most looking forward to in 2024? Which prize would you pick for no 15? Curious to know even if you do not join the challenge!

Our wives under the sea by Julia Armfield

Our wives under the sea was shortlisted for Lesbian Fiction for this year’s Lammys and if you like unsettling books with a purpose I highly recommend it to you. The book is told from the perspective of two women, intertwined but in different point of time. Miri shares what happens when her wife Leah finally returns after a deep-sea exploration goes wrong and the unsettling effects it has had on Leah. From Leah’s perspective we get to see what happened beneath the surface and it builds up a tension that I think pays off in a really interesting way. I found the balance of how Armfield approached the story to be exquisite, it feels nuanced and life affirming. Things are tough and dealing with change of any kind can feel otherworldly at times.

The story had me researching deep water animals, zones and learning more than I cared for. I felt a connection with Boulder by Eva Baltasar which I read recently. There was something about Boulder’s and Leah’s connection to the ocean, their distance in the relationship, that I felt were in communication with each other.

This book was close to impossible to put down and has stayed with me the weeks since reading it. The story was not what I expected it to be, it was so much better.