The ‘Baccante’ literary prize was established at the First International Women’s Fiction Festival in 2004. Each year, the Women’s Fiction Festival Association, together with Harlequin Mondadori, the WFF main sponsor, awards the prize to either a famous woman writer or a woman active in the field of publishing. This year, the Women’s Fiction festival ‘La Baccante’ prize goes to Alicia Gimenez-Bartlett, in recognition of her work in the field of women’s fiction, particularly in Spain and Europe.

The ‘Baccante’ prize is a gold jewel crafted by a talented local artist.

Alicia Gimenez-Bartlett was born in Almansa in 1951 and has lived in Barcelona since 1975. She has a degree in Literature and Modern Philology and taught Spanish literature for thirteen years. After successfully publishing several novels, she gave up teaching to dedicate herself full-time to writing. Before her big best-sellers, Ritos de Muerte and Dias de Perros, Alicia Gimenez-Bartlett published a number of books in various genres. Una Abitacion Ajena is the story of the tormented relationship between Virginia Woolf and her maid and it won Ms. Gimenez-Bartlett the Feminino Lumen prize for best woman Spanish writer in 1997. There followed the high-successful mystery series starring Inspector Petra Delicado, which has made Ms. Gimenez-Bartlett one of the country’s best-loved mystery writers. Her books are published by Sellerio di Giorgianni in Italian. Her Dog Days, translated by Nick Caistor, was published by Europa Editions.