Hilary Mantel on Orange Prize longlist

Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel has been longlisted for this year's Orange Prize for Fiction. Mantel has been nominated for her historical novel Wolf Hall, based on Henry VIII's adviser Thomas Cromwell.

She is joined on the 20-strong list by fellow Booker nominee Sarah Waters, previous Orange Prize winner Andrea Levy, and seven first-time novelists.

Now in its 15th year, the Orange Prize celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women's writing.

'Tough process'
A shortlist will be revealed on 20 April, with the winner announced at a ceremony on 9 June, where the prize of £30,000 will be presented. Author and TV producer Daisy Goodwin, chairwoman of the judges, said it was a "muscular and pleasurable" longlist.

"It was a tough judging process as there was a particularly strong range of books submitted from all over the world," she said.

Full report here BBC
More about the Orange Prize here

The longlist in full:
• Rosie Alison - The Very Thought of You
• Eleanor Catton - The Rehearsal
• Clare Clark - Savage Lands
• Amanda Craig - Hearts and Minds
• Roopa Farooki -The Way Things Look to Me
• Rebecca Gowers - The Twisted Heart
• MJ Hyland - This is How
• Sadie Jones - Small Wars
• Barbara Kingsolver - The Lacuna
• Laila Lalami - Secret Son
• Andrea Levy - The Long Song
• Attica Locke - Black Water Rising
• Hilary Mantel - Wolf Hall
• Maria McCann - The Wilding
• Nadifa Mohamed - Black Mamba Boy
• Lorrie Moore - A Gate at the Stairs
• Monique Roffey - The White Woman on the Green Bicycle
• Amy Sackville - The Still Point
• Kathryn Stockett - The Help
• Sarah Waters - The Little Stranger