What a Week for Virginia Evans!

As you know, we are incredibly excited to be welcoming Virginia Evans to Michelle Gordon's Book Club on April 7th, and The Correspondent is our book of the month. This week, two pieces of news have made that visit feel even more special.

The PEN/Hemingway Award

On Monday, The Correspondent was named the winner of the 2026 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel, one of the most prestigious prizes in American literature, awarded annually to an exceptional first novel. The judges described it as "a compassionate, hopeful, moving novel, deftly structured and vividly characterised, especially prescient in our times and compelling in any." Virginia will receive $10,000 and be honoured at the 50th Anniversary PEN/Hemingway Award Ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston on 26th April.

We think you'll agree that's extraordinarily well deserved.

Jane Fonda to Play Sybil

Then on Wednesday came the second piece of news. Two-time Oscar winner Jane Fonda is set to star as Sybil Van Antwerp in the film adaptation of The Correspondent, with Lionsgate winning a competitive seven-studio bidding war for the rights. Fonda will also produce alongside screenwriter Cat Vasko, who will adapt the novel. Virginia herself will executive produce.

Fonda, 88, is a remarkable fit for Sybil: complex, fierce, funny, and capable of being emotionally devastating when she finally lets her guard down. It's hard to imagine anyone better in the role.

What This Means for April 7th

Virginia is coming to us just as her book's extraordinary journey reaches a whole new level. We'll have so much to talk about. We hope you're as excited as we are.

Details of the evening are in the newsletter and on the Facebook group.