Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction longlist: history and memoirs dominate

The Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction has announced its longlist for the year 2024, marking the first time this award has been given. Aimed at spotlighting non-fiction works by women, the prize seeks to correct historical oversights and bring deserved recognition to this vital genre.

The announcement introduces an eclectic and powerful selection of 16 works that promise to redefine the non-fiction landscape. Ranging from evocative memoirs and compelling investigative journalism to innovative revisionist history, the longlist represents a diverse array of themes and subjects, all bound by the common thread of exceptional quality and profound insight.

Read: Women’s Prize for Fiction authors on storytelling in their shortlisted novels

Professor Susannah Lipscomb, the Chair of Judges, broadcaster, and writer, expressed her enthusiasm for the longlist: “Reading for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction has been a revelation and a joy. I am very proud to introduce the sensational books that make up the inaugural Longlist. Buy them, borrow them, above all read them, and in so doing you’ll be elevating women’s voices and female perspectives in a whole range of disciplines and on a whole host of topics.”

This year’s selection underscores the richness of non-fiction writing by women, featuring seven debut authors, two international bestsellers, two poets, and five journalists. The variety speaks to the depth and breadth of women’s contributions to literature and society at large.

The Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction longlist includes:

• “The Britannias: An Island Quest“ by Alice Albinia, Allen Lane
• “Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts and the Death of Freedom“ by Grace Blakely, Bloomsbury
• “Eve: How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution” by Cat Bohannon, Hutchinson Heinemann
• “Intervals” by Marianne Brooker, Fitzcarraldo Editions
• “Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century“ by Joya Chatterji, Bodley Head
• “Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and Life and Sudden Death” by Laura Cumming, Chatto & Windus
• “Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in the Philippines” by Patricia Evangelista, Grove Press
• “Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life” by Anna Funder, Viking
• “Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Motherhood“ by Lucy Jones, Allen Lane
• “Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World“ by Naomi Klein, Allen Lane Hamish Hamilton. Check out our review of Doppelganger.

Read: Doppelganger by Naomi Klein rethinks self amid mirrored reality – review

• “A Flat Place“ by Noreen Masud, Hamish Hamilton
• “All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake” by Tiya Miles, Profile
• “Code-Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI” by Madhumita Murgia, Picador
• “The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes who Created the Oxford English Dictionary” by Sarah Ogilvie, Chatto & Windus
• “Young Queens: The Intertwined Lives of Catherine de’ Medici, Elisabeth de Valois and Mary, Queen of Scots” by Leah Redmond Chang, Bloomsbury Circus
• “How to Say Babylon: A Jamaican Memoir” by Safiya Sinclair, 4th Estate. Read our review of this deeply moving work.

The Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction is not just an award; it is a call to readers and writers alike to explore and celebrate the vast landscape of non-fiction writing by women. As these titles make their way into readers’ hands, they promise to ignite conversations, inspire change, and enrich the literary world with the depth and diversity of women’s perspectives.

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