Tea Obreht Wins 2011 Orange Prize For Fiction

Thursday June 9, 2011
For immediate release

Tea Obreht Wins 2011 Orange Prize For Fiction

Orion author Téa Obreht has won the 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction with her debut novel The Tiger’s Wife ($36.99 RRP, Weidenfeld & Nicolson). At 25, Obreht is the youngest-ever author to take the Prize.

Celebrating its sixteenth anniversary this year, the Orange Prize celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women’s writing from throughout the world.

Bettany Hughes, Chair of Judges, said: “The Tiger's Wife is an exceptional book and Téa Obreht is a truly exciting new talent. Obreht's powers of observation and her understanding of the world are remarkable. By skillfully spinning a series of magical tales she has managed to bring the tragedy of chronic Balkan conflict thumping into our front rooms with a bittersweet vivacity.”

She continues, “The book reminds us how easily we can slip into barbarity, but also of the breadth and depth of human love. Obreht celebrates storytelling and she helps us to remember that it is the stories that we tell about ourselves, and about others, that can make us who we are and the world what it is.”

The Orange Prize for Fiction was set up in 1996 to celebrate and promote fiction written by women throughout the world to the widest range of readers possible. The Orange Prize is awarded to the best novel of the year written in English by a woman.

Obreht visited New Zealand last month as a guest of the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival where she charmed audiences at all her sessions.

Hachette New Zealand is thrilled with this well-deserved result for an incredibly talented author.

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