‘Failure was my thing’: Women’s prize winner Virginia Evans on her long journey to success

Virginia Evans, winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction, discusses her long path to literary success after years of rejection. Her debut novel, The Correspondent, became a bestseller after being written during the pandemic.
Why it matters
The story highlights the persistence required in the creative arts and the unpredictable nature of literary success.
‘There were a lot of ‘nos’’: Virginia Evans had written seven unpublished novels before The Correspondent. Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian View image in fullscreen ‘There were a lot of ‘nos’’: Virginia Evans had written seven unpublished novels before The Correspondent. Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian Women s prize for fiction ‘Failure was my thing’: Women’s prize winner Virginia Evans on her long journey to success The American author received ‘thousands of rejections’ over two decades before finally hitting gold with her first published novel
A profile piece focusing on an author's personal journey and professional achievements.
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