Dubai author Avni Doshi makes 2021's Women's Prize for Fiction longlist for novel 'Burnt Sugar'

Dubai author Avni Doshi has made it to the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021 longlist for her novel Burnt Sugar.

The Indian-American writer’s debut novel was named among the 16 nominees for this year’s prize, which will see the winner receive a £30,000 ($41,000) cheque and a limited-edition bronze figurine.

Among the authors to make the longlist were Dawn French for Because of You, Patricia Lockwood's No One is Talking About This and Raven Leilani's Luster.

Chair of judges Bernardine Evaristo, who was shortlisted in 2020 for her novel Girl, Woman, Other, said: "We read so many brilliant novels for this year's prize and had an energetic judging session where we discussed our passions, opinions and preferences.

Avni Doshi reading parts of her Booker-nominated book 'Burnt Sugar' at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature at the Jameel Arts Centre. Chris Whiteoak / The National

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"Sadly, we had to let some very deserving books go, but we're confident that we have chosen 16 stand-out novels that represent a truly wide and varied range of fiction by women that reflects multiple perspectives, narrative styles and preoccupations. These novels fascinated, moved, inspired and challenged us."

Alongside Evaristo, this year’s team of judges is made up of podcaster, author and journalist Elizabeth Day; radio presenter, journalist and writer Vick Hope; print columnist and writer Nesrine Malik; and news presenter and broadcaster Sarah-Jane Mee.

Judges will now whittle the nominees down to a final shortlist of six books, to be announced on Wednesday, April 7, before the winner is revealed at a ceremony in London on Wednesday, July 7.

Doshi's Burnt Sugar explores the complex relationship between an ageing mother and her daughter in contemporary India. The author, who lives in Dubai, appeared at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in February to discuss how her grandmother's Alzheimer's diagnosis shaped the book.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Reporter: Razmig Bedirian. Arts. Burnt Sugar: Avni Doshi (pictured) in conversation with Lana Shamma at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature at the Jameel Arts Centre. Dubai. Friday, January 29th, 2021. Chris Whiteoak / The National — Avni Doshi reading parts of her Booker-nominated novel 'Burnt Sugar' at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. Chris Whiteoak / The National

“It was a really big shock for me,” she said at the event. “I felt like all these things that had preoccupied me for years and years were sort of coming alive in my real life.

“There are a lot of afflictions that when we suffer we can come out on the other side and write about them. Depression, for example. There’s a possibility that you can come out on the other side and tell your story.

"But with Alzheimer’s, there is no possibility of that. So their experience is always mediated through the experience of their caregivers, especially when they reach a kind of peak in their illness.”

The critically acclaimed book also saw Doshi nominated for the 2020 Booker Prize, making the shortlist. Scottish author Douglas Stuart was eventually awarded the top prize for his novel, Shuggie Bain.