Barbara Kingsolver Is the Only Woman to Ever Receive the Women’s Prize for Fiction Twice

The only woman to ever receive the Women's Prize for Fiction twice is Barbara Kingsolver. She appears to be sharing credit, though, with the ghost of Charles Dickens, a very well-known author. This win makes her the first person to win the award twice in its 28-year history.

At the Women's Prize for Fiction Awards on Wednesday, Kingsolver's book, Demon Copperhead, was announced as the winner. Demon Copperhead also won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

The story follows a young child as he navigates foster care, labor exploitation, addiction, love, and loss in this modern-day adaptation of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield.

Barbara was interviewed by Metro after accepting the prize. She told Metro: ‘I wanted to write the great Appalachian novel. It’s a rural economically depressed region that’s really very much looked down on in the US."

‘I wanted to tell the story of how this happened to us and how resilient we are, how it’s amazing that we are still standing and the beautiful parts of our culture and community and nature.’

Kingsolver visited the Bleak House in Kent, where Charles Dickens penned David Copperfield, at the end of her last book tour in the UK because she claimed she didn't know how to begin the book.

Barbara described her encounter with him while staying at that hotel: "I had this ghostly visit with him."

‘I was sitting at his desk thinking “who wants to read about orphans and poverty” and I heard him say “I do, they will” and I really truly heard him and felt his vision and I heard him say, “you have to do this and let the child tell the story”.

‘That night on that desk, on Charles Dickens’s desk, I got my notebook and started writing.

‘It’s crazy right, I don’t usually talk to dead people, like ever. It really felt like, not just permission, I really felt like he was saying “you go, girl”.’

After that evening, it took Barbara three years to complete the book, and at 68, she feels as though her career has reached its pinnacle.

When it came to giving a word of advice to aspiring writers, Barbara had a rather niche piece tip: ‘ Don’t smoke, because people go to literary fiction for wisdom and wisdom comes with age, so whatever you can do to help yourself live longer, do that.

‘I’m so glad I’m not a model or an athlete.’

She also said: ‘Think about what you have to say. Find what it is that matters most to you, find that passion that will sit you down in a chair and bring you back, day after day after day for the years it takes.’

Chair of Judges, author and journalist Louise Minchin said: ‘An expose of modern America, its opioid crisis and the detrimental treatment of deprived and maligned communities, Demon Copperhead tackles universal themes – from addiction and poverty, to family, love and the power of friendship and art – it packs a triumphant emotional punch and it is a novel that will withstand the test of time.’