On International Women’s Day, in line with our ambition to bring the best women’s writing and female storytellers to ever-wider audiences, we are delighted to announce the twenty fantastic books which make up the 2016 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist.

2016 Chair of Judges Margaret Mountford said of this year’s longlist: “We had a hugely enjoyable and stimulating meeting, as there were a great many strong novels in contention. We are delighted with the quality, the imaginative scope and the ambition of our chosen books, a longlist which reflects the judges’ interests and tastes. We hope readers will enjoy the variety of outstanding work on offer.”

This year’s longlist honours both new and well-established writers; over half the longlist is occupied by debut novels alongside four previously shortlisted authors. Seven nationalities are represented including the first Zimbabwean author to be longlisted for the Prize.

This year’s brilliant panel of judges now have the difficult task of whittling these twenty books down to just six shortlisted titles before finally choosing the winner which will be announced at an awards ceremony held in the Royal Festival Hall on 8th June 2016.

The longlisted books are as follows:

Kate Atkinson: A God in Ruins

Shirley Barrett: Rush Oh!

Cynthia Bond: Ruby

Geraldine Brooks: The Secret Chord

Becky Chambers: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Jackie Copleton: A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding

Rachel Elliott: Whispers Through a Megaphone

Anne Enright: The Green Road

Petina Gappah: The Book of Memory

Vesna Goldsworthy: Gorsky

Clio Gray: The Anatomist’s Dream

Melissa Harrison: At Hawthorn Time

Attica Locke: Pleasantville

Lisa McInerney: The Glorious Heresies

Elizabeth McKenzie: The Portable Veblen

Sara Nović: Girl at War

Julia Rochester: The House at the Edge of the World

Hannah Rothschild: The Improbability of Love

Elizabeth Strout: My Name is Lucy Barton

Hanya Yanagihara: A Little Life

To stay in the loop about this year’s Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and for a chance to win the longlist, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.