Naomi Klein Wins Inaugural Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction for Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World
Canadian writer and activist Naomi Klein has been awarded the inaugural Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction for her book Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World. The book explores the impact of the digital world, including social media and AI, on culture, politics, and identity.
Klein, who is frequently mistaken for controversial US author Naomi Wolf, delves into the struggles of being mistaken for someone else in her critically acclaimed 2023 work. The award was announced at a ceremony in central London on Thursday evening.
American author VV Ganeshananthan also received recognition, winning the Women’s Prize for Fiction for her novel Brotherless Night. The novel depicts a family fractured by the Sri Lankan civil war and took Ganeshananthan two decades to write.
Chair of the judges for the fiction prize, author Monica Ali, praised Brotherless Night as a “brilliant, compelling, and deeply moving novel” that bears witness to the tragedies of the Sri Lankan civil war. The novel follows Sashi, a 16-year-old aspiring doctor, growing up in Jaffna in the 1980s.
Doppelganger, described as a “courageous, humane, and optimistic call-to-arms” by chair of judges for the non-fiction award Suzannah Lipscomb, tackles various topics, including conspiracy theories. Klein’s previous works include No Logo, The Shock Doctrine, and On Fire.
The Women’s Prize for Fiction and Non-Fiction honors work written in English by female writers from around the world. The winners each receive £30,000 ($38,000) in prize money. The new non-fiction prize was established to address the growing pay gap between male and female authors and the lack of visibility for female non-fiction writers in the media.
Previous winners of the fiction award include Barbara Kingsolver, Susanna Clarke, and Maggie O’Farrell. The shortlisted books for both the Women’s Fiction Prize and Women’s Non-Fiction Prize showcased a diverse range of voices and perspectives.
