From the Women’s Prize Archives.
We’re now well into the first week of BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour coverage celebrating 20 years of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. Over two weeks each of the ten Chairs of Judges from 2006 – 2015 will be interviewed individually about ‘their’ winning novel. Tune in today from 10am to hear Chair of Judges Fi Glover discussing the 2009 winning novel Home by Marilynne Robinson
Ahead of today’s interview we caught up with Fi who told us of her love of Anne Tyler and the book that changed her life.
If you could live in a fictional book, which would it be and why?
Any Anne Tyler book. Her families are so beautifully written and observed that you can feel yourself slipping into them whilst reading her books.
Can you name a book written by a woman that has changed your life?
The Vagabond by Colette. No one does a relationship like she does. I read it in my twenties and, after a pretty staid reading list at school, I remember it made me feel like I was gulping fresh air.
What was the last book you read that you would recommend to a friend?
To continue a bit of a theme… It was Anne Tyler’s A Spool of Blue Thread.