Buy the lady a drink: Baileys to sponsor women’s fiction prize

This post has been corrected, as indicated below.

Baileys liquor has been announced as the new sponsor of the British-based women’s fiction prize, formerly the Orange Prize. This year’s winner will receive an award of close to $46,000 in a ceremony taking place Wednesday night in London.

Booze is not replacing fruit as a sponsor; Orange is a telecom company in the U.K.

The prize was founded in 1996 as the Orange Prize. After the company announced its withdrawal as a sponsor, this year’s prize has been funded by an anonymous group of donors. Baileys has signed on as a funder for three years.

Of the six books shortlisted for the award, three are by writers from the U.K. and three are Americans. Leading the pack, according to British bookmakers, is Hilary Mantel for “Bring Up the Bodies.� Mantel is a two-time winner of the Man Booker prize, and while she’s been a contender for the women’s fiction prize, she has not yet won.

Zadie Smith has won the prize before, for “On Beauty.� Her new novel “NW� is in the running this year. Barbara Kingsolver, whose “Flight Behavior� is also shortlisted for the award, is another prior winner.

The other contenders are Kate Atkinson with “Life After Life� and American writers A.M. Homes, for “May We Be Forgiven� and Maria Semple for “Where’d You Go, Bernadette.�

Previous winners of the award include Ann Patchett, Lionel Shriver, Carol Shields, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Tea Obreht. The 2013 winner will be announced Wednesday night.

[For the record, 3:42 p.m., June 3: An earlier version of this post the day of the awards as Monday; this has been corrected to Wednesday.]

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