Australian authors make up the majority of contenders for the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction: namely Steven Conte, Kate Grenville and Pip Williams. The authors occupy three of the five potential winner’s spots on the shortlist for the £25,000 award. And Maggie O’Farrell and Hilary Mantel are the other two contenders.

The winner – usually announced at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose – will be announced online in June as that event has moved to a later date.

The shortlisted titles are as follows:

The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte

A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

A statement from the judges said it was the first time Australian writers had made up the majority of their shortlist. And it added that the books were not just a “masterclass in writing” they also offered experiences readers were “unlikely to forget”.

First awarded in 2010, the prize is usually given out at the Borders Book Festival but it has moved to later in the year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The honour will now be awarded at an online event in June instead.

Learn more about the event at: https://www.walterscottprize.co.uk/

(Article extracted from BBC News with minor revisions to the headline and text by Sakshi Selvanathan).