Monica

London, March 15 (Reuters): British writer Monica Ali rubbed shoulders with Canadian Margaret Atwood today in the longlist for the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction, one of the most prestigious awards for female novelists in English.

Ali, born in Bangladesh and raised in England, was nominated for her acclaimed first novel Brick Lane, about a Bangladeshi woman who moves to east London.

Atwood made the 20-name list for her science fiction saga Oryx and Crake, which has been compared to George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.