Women's Prize for Non-Fiction Longlist 2026

The third annual Women's Prize for Non-Fiction longlist has been revealed! This prize celebrates non-fiction written by women. The Winner will receive £30,000. Sixteen works of non-fiction were longlisted.

The 2026 longlist is as follows:

Barbara Demick - Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: China's Stolen Children and a Story of Separated Twins

In 2000 a Chinese woman secretly gave birth to identical twin girls. An American couple adopted an abandoned baby girl from China, not knowing that she had been snatched from her mother and separated from her twin. Author journalist Demick is the adoptive mother who only discovered the truth in 2007. This book tells the story of what happened to these twins and Demick's role in reuniting them. Demnick is the author of Eat the Buddha (2020) and Besieged (2012).

Lyse Doucet - The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People's History of Afghanistan

The luxury Hotel Inter-Continental in Kabul is a modern wonder in a city and country that has been devastated by civil war and invasion. It has remained open using the fall and rise of the Taliban, and has welcomed journalists and visitors from around the world. BBC journalist Doucet writes about the Afghans who have maintained the hotel since the 1970s.

Jenny Evans - Don't Let It Break You, Honey: A Memoir About Saving Yourself

At 18 Evans was cast in a cult film and thought she had got her big break. She was assaulted at a party by a high profile person and reported the crime. A tabloid published her story without her permission. Evans went on to train as a journalist to make sense of what happened and realised she was part of the 'phone-hacking' scandal. This memoir is about resilience and finding your own voice.

Daisy Fancourt - Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health 

While most people consume art as a hobby, perhaps the arts are more beneficial to our health than we realise. Professor Fancourt explores the science behind the transformational power of arts and how it is good for the mind and the body. Fancourt is a professor of Psychobiology and Epidemiology at University College London.

Lady Hale - With the Law on Our Side: How the Law Works for Everyone and How We Can Make It Work Better

Written by the former President of the British Supreme Court, this book uses real cases to explore the justice system and how the law works. This is an accessible, easy to read book peppered with compelling cases. It is designed to give a glimpse behind the formalities of the intimidating legal system, and show that everyone has rights to be protected. Baroness Hale was called to the Bar in 1969, became a judge in 1994. She was President of the Supreme Court from 2017-2020.

Kidiatu Kanneh-Mason - To Be Young, Gifted and Black: Creativity and Race in the 21st Century

Kannah-Mason is the mother of seven children who are all gifted, classically-trained musicians (including cellist Sheku Janneh-Mason who performed at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle). When one of her children was the victim of racist online bullying, she had conversations with her children about Black artistic self-expression and how to rise above the abuse. This book explores belonging and creativity.

Judith Mackrell - Artists, Siblings, Visionaries: The Lives and Loves of Gwen and Augustus John

Welsh post-impressionist painter Augustus John was known for his portraiture as well as for fathering children with many different women. His sister Gwendolyn was also an artist, and long-time lover of sculptor Auguste Rodin. This book explores the sibling artists, their work and their lives. Biographer Mackrell has written books about other artists and was the dance critic for The Guardian. 

Deepa Paul - Ask Me How it Works: Love in an Open Marriage

Paul is a Filipina-Indiana author living in Amsterdam. Married, with children, Paul also has a boyfriend. In this book she answers questions many people have about open marriage, how it works and whether polyamory is worth it. Deepa seeks to live an authentic life, without shame for her desires.

Sarah Perry - Death of an Ordinary Man

When her father-in-law died in 2022 only nine days after his cancer diagnosis, Perry realised that this ordinary may was actually quite extraordinary. This meditation on mortality shows that life and death are both ordinary and unique. Perry is an internationally best selling novelist best known for The Essex Serpent, what was longlisted for the 2017 Women's Prize for Fiction. 

Harriet Rix - The Genius of Trees: How Trees Mastered the Elements and Shaped the World

Trees are change agents, surviving forrest fires, drought, climate change and human interference. They manipulate fungi, water, animals and humans to survive. Humans have a lot to thank trees for and this book is designed to ensure readers never look at trees the same way again. Rix is a science consultant and writer with a passion for ecology. 

Jane Rogoyska - Hotel Exile: Paris in the Shadow of War

The Hotel Lutetia on Paris' Left Bank has served as a meeting place for bohemian artists, musicians and politicians. Among its guests were Andre Gide, James Joyce, Pablo Picasso, Josephine Baker, and Henri Matisse. In the 1930s activists and intellectuals fleeing Hitler's rise to power, came to the hotel and attempted to form an alternative government. When Paris was occupied, it became the headquarters of the German Military intelligence service. After the war, it was requisitioned again as a repatriation centre for people returning from concentration camps. Author Rogoyska charts the incredible history of this hotel at the heart of European history.

Arundhati Roy - Mother Mary Comes to Me

The Booker Prize winning novelist Arundhati Roy's memoir details how her relationship with her mother Mary shaped her life. It is the story of how Roy became an artist, writer and activitist. The mother-daughter relationship was fraught, but provided the fuel for Roy's remarkable life. From all the reviews I have read, this memoir sounds brilliant,

Zakia Sewell - Finding Albion: Myth, Folklore and the Quest for a Hidden Britain

Documentarian Sewell has travelled across Britain in search of its folklore and myth. She learns of Celtic rites, ancient folksongs and seasonal rituals. Along the way, she discovers the story of who the British are and where they are going. 

Grace Spence Green - To Exist As I Am: A Doctor's Notes on Recovery and Radical Acceptance

Junior doctor Spence Green has a life changing injury in 2018 which has confined her to a wheelchair. In this memoir, she shows how to turn tragedy into advocacy as she uses her resilience to fight for a more accessible and inclusive future. Hailed as an eye opener and a must-read for the medical profession, this memoir is a powerful story of rehabilitation and the need to change the narrative around disability. 

Ece Temelkuran - Nation of Strangers: Rebuilding Home in the 21st Century 

The number of displaced persons continue to grow as exiles and refugees seek shelter in new places. Nation of Strangers is a series of letters between strangers encouraging them to welcome newcomers and push back against oppression. The meaning of Home shifts, not just meaning a place to live but also a sense of comfort and security. Turkish author and activist, currently based in Berlin, writes on the rise of fascism around the world. 

Lea Ypi - Indignity: A Life Reimagined

Ypi finds a photo of her grandmother honeymooning in the Alps in 1941 amidst the horrors of World War Two. She thought records of her grandmother had long been lost, so begins a search to discover her past. In doing so she questions the moral authority with which we judge the acts of those who came before us. Chair in Politics and Philosophy at the London School of Economics, Lea Ypi won the Ondaatje Prize for her first book Free: Coming of Age at the End of History.

The Chair of the Judges, Baroness Thangam Debonnaire, said of the Longlist:

'The books on this hopeful longlist are rigorous and researched, lyrical and flowing. They are drawn together by the originality and skill with which they have been written. This reading list carries relevance and truth for the future as well as holding significant value for the present day – the books spark curiosity and demand attention; they are for everyone navigating the complicated and unpredictable world we are living in. The voices of these sixteen remarkable women need to be heard – loud and clear.'

I have not read any of these titles, and I have to say I am disappointed that Hannah Kent was not recognised for her brilliant memoir Always Homesick, Always Home. I had also anticipated that Jacinda Arden's A Different Kind of Power, Electric Spark and Yiyun Li's Things in Nature Merely Grow would be in the list. I am surprised, but not saddened, that there are no books on Artificial Intelligence or technology on the list.

Of the longlist, the only one I am likely to read, and my early pick for winner, is Arundhati Roy's memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me. If I can find them in the library, the other books that interest me are Hotel Exile, Indignity and Nation of Strangers.

The shortlist will be announced on 25 March 2026 and the winner will be revealed on 11 June 2026. Happy reading!

Want more? Here is the video of the Longlist announcement.