Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been honoured with the ‘Best of the Best’ award for her Half of a Yellow Sun, meaning she topped winners of the Baileys Women’s Fiction Prize for the last decade, between 2005 and 2015.
The award is part of celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the Prize created in 1996, which in previous times used to be known as the Orange Prize for Fiction.
Adichie won the Orange Prize with Half of a Yellow Sun in 2007.
The winner of the first decade of the £30,000 Prize, in 2005, was Andrea Levy, with Small Island.
Reacting to the award, Adichie told the BBC: “This is a prize I have a lot of respect and admiration for.
“Over the years it’s [the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction] brought wonderful literature to a wide readership that might not have found many of the books.
“I have a lot of respect for the books that have won in the past 10 years and also for the books that have been shortlisted – I feel I am in very good company.”