A NORTH Berwick author has won this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Maggie O’Farrell, who was born in Northern Ireland but grew up in North Berwick and attended North Berwick High School, won the award for her novel Hamnet, a book inspired and named after William Shakespeare’s only son.

She beat five other authors to claim the title and the £30,000 cash prize, becoming its 25th recipient.

Hamnet, her eighth novel, is set in 16th-century Stratford-upon-Avon and is a fictionalised account of the life of Shakespeare’s son, who died in 1596 from the plague aged 11.

The ceremony was scheduled to take place on June 3 but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. It took place virtually from London, with Maggie picking up her award from her home in Edinburgh.