Women’s Prize for Fiction: How the rise in powerful novels is inspiring a new wave of female authors

Women’s Prize for Fiction: How the rise in powerful novels is inspiring a new wave of female authors

StoryTerrace, the nation’s leading self-publishing platform, reveals that over TWO million women plan to write their own book this year

• 39% of women feel that by the age of 40, they will have experienced enough to write their life story so far
• 57% of women said they plan to make their 30s the most exciting years of their life
• Over 2 million women want to write their own book in the upcoming year
• A third of the nation feels proud of their life achievements and wants to tell their story

The shortlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction – the UK’s most prestigious annual book award celebrating & honouring fiction written by women – has now been announced ahead of the awards on the 14th of June. Reflecting on the skill, talent and creativity of this generation’s female writers, encourages us to take a step back and consider the evolution of the female narrative in British literature. A similar theme that ties this year’s shortlisted novels written by Jacqueline Crook, Priscilla Morris, and Laline Paul, is that they all draw on or are inspired by their own real-life experiences. Celebrating tales of overcoming adversity, love danger and most of all, courage, Rutger Bruining CEO and founder of StoryTerrace, the nation’s self-publishing platform, comments on the democratisation of the publishing industry. This comes as recent reports show that women have gone from publishing just 20% of books in the 1970s to more than half today, according to new research. 

Above all, the most prominent theme in this year’s shortlisted books is inspiration. ‘Fire Rush’ by Crooks details the dramatic journey of transformation after the end of a relationship, ‘Black Butterflies’ by Morris follows a life lived in the longest siege in modern warfare, and ‘Pod’ speaks on climate change and a celebration of family. The rise in powerful novels entering the public sphere is now having a domino effect enticing British women to embark on their journey of novel and book-writing.

Proprietary research from the memoir-writing firm unveiled that over 2 MILLION women plan to write their own book in the upcoming year, and 39% feel that by the age of 40 they will have experienced enough to write their life story so far. A study by YouGov found that 60% of Britons have said they would like to be an author. The landmark study also discovered that a third of the nation feel proud of their life achievements and want to tell their story. Often, we think of the moments that make up our lives and realise the dramatic credentials in them – sometimes ordinary lives take on narratives stranger than fiction. With this, StoryTerrace revealed that their service experienced a 58% rise in books printed in the UK with 62% of those being submitted by women.

Highlighting some of the incredible accounts, that vary in themes of loss and disaster to epic love stories and history-defining feats, the memoir-writing service offers a snapshot of some of the projects they have seen from female protagonists in the last year: 

Meet Margaret McCann, a mother who documented her story of strength and resilience during a time of pain and hurt: 

Born in Tottenham, London, and later moving to Dublin where she began her life as a working mother of four, Margaret had to live through a pain no mother ever wants to live. After losing two of her daughters in just over three years, Margaret became dedicated to living her life to the fullest for her two sons. Her life of hardship through her own health conditions, loss of children and being a woman in Dublin, she was taught how to be resilient without even knowing. By becoming a grandmother, she knew that she wanted to document her story. She saw the resemblance of her daughters in her two grandchildren and knew she had to make sure their legacies lived on.

“After my second daughter died, I realised how much anger I had been holding inside me. When I would go out, I was a completely different Margaret that lived at home – and I was constantly being told how strong I was. It was all for my two teenage sons, they needed me to be the strong figure in their life, and I quickly realised how much I needed them to heal. Becoming strong wasn’t an option, it was a necessity. Talking with colleagues helped me become stronger, and they encouraged me to write it in a book. The writing process removed all this internal anger and helped make sense of the whirlwind my family and I had to live.”

“Other than making peace with my past, my story was written to provide hope for people going through similar experiences. Losing children can become very lonely, I just wanted to show how you must make the most of what you have left.” 

Meet Anne Wafula-Strike, a Kenyan-born Paralympian and Disability Rights Campaigner 

Anna contracted polio at age two in her village in Kenya and was subsequently ostracised from her community – with the fervent support of her father she made her way to the UK and started an Olympic career, where she became the first wheelchair racer from Sub-Saharan Africa to compete at the Paralympics in Athens. After becoming a British citizen in 2006, she joined Team GB and became officially recognised by the Queen, earning an MBE for her work as a disabled athlete and for her involvement in charity work for people with disabilities. 

Rutger Bruining, CEO/founder of StoryTerrace, comments on how the publishing industry is becoming more democratised:

“We found that there is an increasing number of people who want to write their own book this year, with over 2 million women now in the process of doing so. Although world-famous novelists such as Virginia Woolf and Beatrix Potter are great literary role models who help to inspire women to delve into literature, there is certainly more to be done. It is therefore great to see so many women with powerful stories bring their experiences to life with us at StoryTerrace and take their narratives into their own hands.

“I think it is incredible to see the rise of the strong female protagonist, especially in the publishing industry. This space is becoming more and more democratised as we see aspiring authors from all different walks of life want to tell their stories.Hundreds of the memoirs that we see at StoryTerrace start from an individual’s journal – we see it all the time. They represent a capsule of one’s thoughts and feelings at a certain point and allow reflection on that experience for years to come. People cherish their journals and keep them as keepsakes, and that is what is so beautiful about StoryTerrace.”