Women's Prize for Fiction 2018: Pakistani-British writer Kamila Shamsie wins award for Home Fire

London: Pakistani-British writer Kamila Shamsie has won the international Women’s Prize for Fiction with Home Fire, a novel about love, radicalism and conflicting loyalties in the post-9/11 era.

Shamsie was awarded the £30,000 prize at a ceremony in London on Wednesday, 6 June. Loosely based on Sophocles’ ancient Greek tragedy Antigone, her novel centers on three British Muslim siblings torn apart when one joins the Islamic State.

Journalist Sarah Sands, who chaired the judging panel, called it a story of “identity, conflicting loyalties, love and politics” that “spoke for our times.”

Shamsie beat five other finalists. They included American writer Jesmyn Ward, who has been a favorite for her National Book Award-winning novel Sing, Unburied, Sing.

This is the third time Shamsie has been nominated for the award, which was previously known as the Baileys Prize and Orange Prize, reports the  BBC . Founded in 1996, the prestigious prize is open to female English-language writers from around the world.

Shamsie tweeted a response on winning the literature award, thanking everyone who supported her.

So this was very lovely. Thanks for all the tweets, which I’m still scrolling through. Of course writers should learn to write things down - not doing that means you forget to thank crucial people - eg everyone at @BloomsburyBooks and @AMHeathLtd (Thank you) https://t.co/1AARu6EPYl

— Kamila Shamsie (@kamilashamsie) June 7, 2018

Also read on Firstpost: A review of Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire

With inputs from AP