Never heard of it? Me, neither. At least not until I was reading a book blog and the blog’s author mentioned it. So what exactly is the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction? Straight from the prize’s mouth, er, website

“The founders of the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction were concerned that many of the biggest literary prizes often appeared to over look wonderful writing by women. And, since prizes are one key to bringing writers to readers’ attention, we thought that both male and female readers might be missing out on fantastic novels by women that they’d really enjoy.”

For the “longlist” of 2007 nominees, click here. Drop a comment if you’ve read any of the nominated authors/titles, and tell us what you thought!