Women’s Prize for Nonfiction Shortlist Announced
Arundhati Roy, Lyse Doucet, and Judith Mackrell are among the authors shortlisted for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Nonfiction. The £30,000 prize, launched in 2024 to address gender imbalance in UK nonfiction awards, also includes Jane Rogoyska, Ece Temelkuran, and Daisy Fancourt as contenders.
Roy, a Booker Prize-winning novelist and political activist, has been shortlisted for her memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me, which explores themes of identity, motherhood, and the development of a writer. Amit Chaudhuri described the memoir as
“utterly absorbing”.
Lyse Doucet, BBC’s chief international correspondent, is recognized for The Finest Hotel in Kabul, a people’s history of Afghanistan narrated through the changing fortunes of the InterContinental hotel in Kabul. The book has been praised as
“witty, observant and sometimes heartbreaking”.
Jane Rogoyska’s Hotel Exile also explores a historical hotel, the Hotel Lutetia in Paris, which served as the headquarters of the German military intelligence service, the Abwehr, during World War II.
Gender Imbalance in Nonfiction Market
The Women’s Prize announced the shortlist alongside new data highlighting gender disparities in nonfiction publishing. While female authors have increased their market share in certain "authoritative" genres—such as popular science, rising from 11% in 2023 to 22% in 2025, and philosophy, increasing from 5% to 10%—men continue to dominate categories including business and management (93%), sport (90%), and politics (82%).
Thangam Debbonaire, chair of judges, commented on the shortlist, stating
“six exceptional books and six hugely talented writers, and offers readers collectively a timely and timeless interrogation of our world today”.She added,
“These books are an urgent antidote to mis- and disinformation, written with high standards of scholarship. They offer rich and original insights in what often feels like a fragmented and uncertain world.”
Shortlisted Titles and Themes
Judith Mackrell’s Artists, Siblings, Visionaries is a dual biography of British sibling artists Gwen and Augustus John, noted for its
“novelistic sensibility”.
Ece Temelkuran’s Nation of Strangers addresses exile, migration, belonging, and the illusion of geopolitical and global stability. Daisy Fancourt’s Art Cure explores how the arts can enhance health, wellbeing, and longevity.
Background and Longlist
The Women’s Prize for Nonfiction was established following research revealing that only 35.5% of winners across seven major UK nonfiction awards over the previous decade were women.
Alongside the six shortlisted books, the longlist includes:
- Daughters of the Bamboo Grove by Barbara Demick
- Don’t Let It Break You, Honey by Jenny Evans
- With the Law on Our Side by Lady Hale
- To Be Young, Gifted and Black by Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason
- Ask Me How It Works: Love in an Open Marriage by Deepa Paul
- Titles by Sarah Perry and Harriet Rix
- Finding Albion by Zakia Sewell
- To Exist As I Am by Grace Spence Green
Additional Awards and Judging Panel
The Women’s Prize for Nonfiction Emerging Writer Award was awarded to Dr Rachel Clarke for The Story of a Heart, while the Women’s Prize for Nonfiction Impact Award went to Naomi Klein for Doppelganger. The winner of the main prize will be announced alongside the winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction on 11 June. The recipient will receive £30,000 and a limited-edition artwork known as the Charlotte.
The judging panel, chaired by Thangam Debbonaire, includes Roma Agrawal, engineer, author and broadcaster; Nicola Elliott, founder of Neom Wellbeing; Nina Stibbe, novelist and memoirist; and Nicola Williams, crown court judge and thriller author.
For those interested in exploring the 2026 Women’s Prize for Nonfiction shortlist, further details and titles are available online. Delivery charges may apply.
