The winner of the 2016 Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction, Lisa McInerney, has said she is "completely stunned" by her win and has praised the "great celebration of diverse voices" recognised by the awards.
The Galway author won the prestigious award for her debut novel, The Glorious Heresies, and told RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland that it was "weirdly freeing" to be part of a women-only award which did not judge her work on a personal basis.
Here is the winner of the 2016 #BaileysPrize Lisa McInerney with her Bessie! pic.twitter.com/miXa6jB4F8
— Baileys Prize (@BaileysPrize) June 8, 2016
"When we think of literary fiction, when we think of a literary writer, I think automatically there's an unconscious prejudice in our heads - we automatically think of a man," she said. "We think he's middle-aged; we automatically think he's white and we automatically think he's straight - this avatar in our head.
"If you're a female writer, if you're a writer of colour, for example, your work is almost always assumed to be personal or some response to your personal circumstances... Anything that kind of skips that stage, where your work is examined in a personal context and just goes straight to examining it on its own merits, is fantastic."
McInerney said writing her blog, The Arse End of Ireland, before publishing her debut novel gave her a platform to build up a profile and have something to say. She said this helped her break down barriers and also helped her to write The Glorious Heresies.
At Wednesday night's awards ceremony in London, the 2016 Chair of Judges, Margaret Mountford, presented McInerney with the £30,000 prize and the 'Bessie', a limited edition bronze figurine.
Mountford said of McInerney's win: "After a passionate discussion around a very strong shortlist, we chose Lisa McInerney's The Glorious Heresies, a superbly original, compassionate novel that delivers insights into the very darkest of lives through humour and skilful storytelling. A fresh new voice and a wonderful winner."
The Glorious Heresies depicts the fall-out from an accidental killing in Cork, in a story told by five characters, convincingly imagined in an earthy, vivid narrative. It has also been longlisted for this year's Dylan Thomas Prize and Desmond Elliott Prize.
Speaking to TEN in a recent interview, McInerney revealed her gratitude for her nomination as without it, her work wouldn't have reached so many people.
"Quite a few people got on to me on things like Twitter to say without this book being shortlisted they would never have picked it up," she explained. Prizes such as the Bailey's, she said, serve as "a really good road map for readers".
Now in its 21st year, The Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction is awarded to the best novel written by a woman from anywhere in the world.
McInerney admitted that she had bought all of the shortlisted books, but has been "far too nervous" to read them to date.
Irish Fiction Laureate Anne Enright was the favourite to win with her novel The Green Road while McInerney was also highly tipped for success. The prize was last awarded to an Irish author in 2014 when Eimear McBride won for A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing.
The other works of fiction on the 2016 shortlist included The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie, The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild, Ruby by Cynthia Bond, and the Man Booker-nominated A Little Life by Hannah Yanagihara.
Along with former Apprentice star Margaret Mountford, the Bailey's judging panel also included former Everything But the Girl singer Tracey Thorn, Turkish novelist Elif Shafak, journalist Laurie Penny and BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty,
Margaret Mountford congratulates Lisa McInerney
