American writers Barbara Kingsolver and Lorrie Moore and Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel are among six finalists for Britain's Orange Prize for fiction by women. Organizers Tuesday announced a shortlist that includes Kingsolver's kaleidoscope of US and Mexican history “The Lacuna,” Moore's wry Midwestern tale “A Gate at the Stairs” and Mantel's Tudor epic “Wolf Hall.” The other nominees are “The Very Thought of You,” by Britain's Rosie Alison; US writer Attica Locke's “Black Water Rising”; and “The White Woman on the Green Bicycle” by British-Trinidadian writer Monique Roffey. The 30,000-pound ($45,000) prize is open to any novel by a woman published in English. The winner will be announced June 9.
