An American writer who sold her home to move with her young family to Dublin for a creative writing master’s degree at Trinity College’s Oscar Wilde Centre has won the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Virginia Evans, who studied under Irish writers Kevin Power, Claire Keegan, Carlo Gébler and the centre’s director, Eoin McNamee, won the prize for her bestselling debut novel, The Correspondent, which is to be made into a film, starring and produced by Jane Fonda. The prize was announced last night at the Women’s Prize Summer Party in Bedford Square Gardens, London, alongside the winner of the 2026 Women’s Prize for Non Fiction, The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History of Afghanistan by BBC correspondent Lyse Doucet.The Correspondent is the emotional, uplifting story of 73-year-old Sybil Van Antwerp, told through letters to family and friends. Sybil is stubborn, cantankerous, opinionated, always steadfast in her belief in the power of the written word. Yet as the clock begins to tick, the need for a few post-scripts to the life she’s led becomes apparent. The Correspondent is a book about great joys, small tragedies and unexpected second chances.Evans told Rosita Boland last month: “Eoin McNamee was my overseer, and my mentor for my thesis. We were working on my novel, and I remember him saying to me one time, ‘You have such good command of language and cadence, and your work is so distilled. And these are good things to have. But you are so unwilling to hurt your characters. You have to let them be hurt. You’re not here to be the judge of their decisions. You’re just there to be the storyteller. You have to let people do horrible things.’ And that comes into my novel The Correspondent. That was so helpful for me.”McNamee said: “I was thinking of Gerry Dawe and Brendan Kennelly today. When they set up the Oscar Wilde Centre in Trinity it was in service to writers and writing. I think they would be very proud of Virginia.”*In The Irish Times tomorrow, Keith Ridgway tells David Hayden about his new novel, Dooneen; Jana Bakunina talks to Patrick Freyne about her new book, The Good Russian: In Search of a Nation’s Soul; and there is a Q&A with the new Laureate na nÓg Chris Haughton.Reviews are Daniel Geary on After the Fall by Ian Shapiro; Helen Cullen on Experts in a Dying Field by Patrick Freyne; Catherine Higgins-Moore on Awake, Awake by Fiona Mozley; Declan Burke on the best new crime fiction; Maya Kulukundis on Judy Blume: A Life by Mark Oppenheimer; Miriam Mulcahy on Blasket Bound by Lesley Bond; Mei Chin on To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage; Rory O’Sullivan on Walter Benjamin by Peter Gordon; Dean Van Nguyen on Braver New World by John Kampfner; John Gibbons on Farming in Ireland: Crisis and Climate by Pat Brereton; Andrew Lynch on Animate: How Animals Shape the Human Mind by Michael Bond; John Cooney on Pope Leo by Fr Michael Collins; Eamon Maher on American Hope by Christopher Lamb; Neil Hegarty on Irish Anthropocene: Literature, Climate Change, Sovereignty by Malcolm Sen; and Sinéad Gibney on Growth, Democracy or Climate Action? The New Political Trilemma of Advanced Capitalism Aidan Regan.*The Irish Writers Centre is celebrating 35 years with the launch of an anthology competition that will showcase the work of 35 writers from across Ireland.Supported by Dublin Unesco City of Literature, the anthology will feature a diverse collection of previously unpublished short stories, essays and poetry from writers affiliated with the Irish Writers Centre. It will go on sale in time for Christmas.Through an open-call process, 35 contributors will be selected by a panel of internal and external judges, ensuring a transparent and inclusive approach that reflects the Irish Writers Centre’s mission of supporting writers at every stage of their creative journey. They will each receive €250 alongside a complimentary copy of the anthology.Mags McLoughlin, CEO of the Irish Writers Centre, said: “This anthology feels like the perfect way to honour the writers, voices and stories that have been the lifeblood of the organisation since its foundation.”The anthology is open to writers aged 18 and over, resident on the island of Ireland, who have previously engaged with the Irish Writers Centre through programmes, mentoring initiatives, competitions, memberships, events and creative projects. Full competition details, eligibility criteria and submission guidelines can be found at irishwriterscentre.ie*An Evening with Lisa Jewell and Andrea Mara in conversation with Sinéad Crowley takes place next Tuesday, June 16th, at 7pm in the Royal Irish Academy of Music, 36-38 Westland Row, Dublin 2. Tickets €18. Booking required.*In Where the River Rises this Sunday, June 14th, at 6pm on RTÉ lyric fm, poet Jane Clarke reads poems from her collections A Change in the Air and When the Tree Falls (Bloodaxe Books), which celebrate nature in and around the Avonmore River in Co Wicklow, describe its fragility, and champion efforts being made to protect and restore it. As she traces the river from its source to the Meeting of the Waters, she meets naturalist Richard Nairn, Hugh McLindon, conservation officer with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, ecologist Faith Wilson, historian and archaeologist Chris Corlett, and Jean Costelloe, former manager and curator of the Avondale House and Estate. *In her new memoir, The Troubled Adventures of a Student Nurse (Colmcille Press), Liz Laird, a former Church of Ireland schoolgirl from rural Leitrim recounts her apprenticeship in the busiest emergency facility on these islands. She navigates her journey from teenager to womanhood in Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital against the backdrop of hunger strikes, bombings, shootings, kneecappings, roadblocks and riots.The Troubled Adventures of a Student Nurse will be launched at Newcastle Library, Co Down, on June 23rd at 6pm. There will be a second launch at the Great Hall, Magee in Derry in September.*The Dublin Rare Books Fair takes place on June 12th and 13th at Flux Studios on Chatham Row. It will feature 20 premier rare booksellers from Ireland and the UK, who will be bringing unique, signed and inscribed books, some of significant Irish historical and cultural interest. Highlights include a copy of James Joyce’s Dubliners signed by his wife Nora (€8,750); ‘The Belfast Group’ Poetry Pamphlet Collection, featuring Michael Longley, Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon et al (€17,500); and a first edition of A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, together with an original poster signed by the author’s mother, Thelma Ducoing Toole, whose grit and persistence alone forced the publication of the book. (€5,750)*Bookselling Ireland has announced details of events taking place in independent bookshops throughout the country to celebrate Independent Bookshop Week 2026, now in its 20th year.Running from Saturday, June 13th to 20th, and supported by headline sponsor Hachette UK alongside NielsenIQ BookData and Gardners Books, Independent Bookshop Week 2026 celebrates the vital role independent bookshops play in championing reading for pleasure, supporting local communities, and connecting readers with books, authors and ideas. Books Upstairs, Dublin – June 14th at 2pmA poetry reading with Annelise Berghenti, Lily Blacksell and Rosamund Taylor is taking place in the store to mark Independent Bookshop Week. Tickets are available via the website, POETRY READING | Annelise Berghenti, Lily Blacksell, Rosamund Taylor | Books UpstairsChapters Bookshop, Dublin – June 17thOne of the Bookshop Champions for this year’s campaign, the team at Chapters are delighted to host an instore quiz night for teams of up to four people to mark the celebrations. For further information contact the store on 01 879 2700.Tertulia Bookshop, Westport – June 17th at 7pmInternational best-selling author Jeanine Cummins will be visiting the bookshop for an informal chat over a glass of wine and nibbles. Tickets at €16 are available tertulia.ie/p/jeanine-cummins/Kennys Bookshop, Galway – June 17th at 8pmMaggie O’Farrell discusses her new book Land, a historical novel set in the West of Ireland in the years before and after the Great Hunger. A ticket option which includes a copy featuring a stamped author signature is available from the website tht.ie/4704/maggie-ofarrell-in-conversationMaynooth Bookshop, Kildare – June 18th at 6.30pmIrish Book Week Ambassador Katriona O’Sullivan will be visiting the store as part of their Independent Bookshop Week celebrations. Further details are available on Eventbrite. Castle Bookshop, Castlebar is hosting several events: June 13th at 10.30am – a storytelling session for children with Margaret Fitzgibbon; June 15th at 7.30pm – an interactive workshop with Dr Michael O’Connor; June 17th at 11am – An Irish group event will take place in store with Irish music from Seán Nós; June 18th at 4pm – Author Tony Lynott will be visiting the store to launch his new book