Four writers with connections to the University of Oxford have been longlisted for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, as the Women’s Prize Trust unveiled what it described as a “hopeful” selection “for everyone navigating the complicated & unpredictable world we find ourselves living in”.
Oxford alumni Daisy Fancourt (Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health), Harriet Rix (The Genius of Trees: How Trees Mastered the Elements and Shaped the World), and Zakia Sewell (Finding Albion: Myth, Folklore and the Quest for a Hidden Britain) feature on the list, alongside former Postdoctoral Prize Research Fellow Lea Ypi for Indignity: A Life Reimagined.
The Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction celebrates excellent, original and accessible narrative non-fiction written by female thought-leaders, changemakers and experts. Sponsored by Findmypast and supported by the Charlotte Aitken Trust, the Prize awards £30,000 and the ‘Charlotte’ sculpture to its winner.
Announcing the longlist, Chair of Judges Thangam Debbonaire said:
“When I was invited to Chair the 2026 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction I said ‘yes’ without hesitation, because this Prize is a powerful, trusted and necessary platform for women’s voices and experience.
“Today, alongside my fellow judges, I am proud to reveal a compelling longlist that shows remarkable breadth and depth – women writing excellently on a wide range of subjects, each uncovering something new about our world.
“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.”
Claire Shanahan, Executive Director of the Women’s Prize Trust, added:
“At the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity behind the Prize, we believe that every woman’s voice has the power to inspire change.
“Reading and hearing a multiplicity of perspectives, experiences and ideas through non-fiction writing is more vital than ever – it is how we make sense of the world, it’s how we learn from the past, challenge injustice, and imagine new futures.
“We are grateful to our brilliant judging panel for the care and consideration in their reading and discussions, and we are immensely proud of this year’s longlist: I offer our congratulations to these sixteen exceptional writers whose voices shed light on what it means to be human amidst the wider issues shaping society today.”
The 2026 longlist spans politics, memoir, science, history, biography and art, with seven debuts among the sixteen titles.
The longlist for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction:
- Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: China’s Stolen Children and a Story of Separated Twins by Barbara Demick (Granta)
- The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History of Afghanistan by Lyse Doucet (Hutchinson Heinemann, Cornerstone, Penguin Random House UK)
- Don’t Let It Break You, Honey: A Memoir About Saving Yourself by Jenny Evans (Robinson, Little, Brown Book Group, Hachette UK)
- Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health by Daisy Fancourt (Cornerstone Press, Cornerstone, Penguin Random House UK)
- With the Law on Our Side: How the Law Works for Everyone and How We Can Make It Work Better by Lady Hale (The Bodley Head, Vintage, Penguin Random House UK)
- To Be Young, Gifted and Black: Creativity and Race in the 21st Century by Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason (Oneworld, Oneworld Publications)
- Artists, Siblings, Visionaries: The Lives and Loves of Gwen and Augustus John by Judith Mackrell (Picador, Pan Macmillan)
- Ask Me How It Works: Love in an Open Marriage by Deepa Paul (Viking, Penguin General, Penguin Random House UK)
- Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry (Jonathan Cape, Vintage, Penguin Random House UK)
- The Genius of Trees: How Trees Mastered the Elements and Shaped the World by Harriet Rix (The Bodley Head, Vintage, Penguin Random House UK)
- Hotel Exile: Paris in the Shadow of War by Jane Rogoyska (Allen Lane, Penguin Press, Penguin Random House UK)
- Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, Penguin General, Penguin Random House UK)
- Finding Albion: Myth, Folklore and the Quest for a Hidden Britain by Zakia Sewell (Hodder Press, Hodder & Stoughton, Hachette UK)
- To Exist As I Am: A Doctor’s Notes on Recovery and Radical Acceptance by Grace Spence Green (Wellcome Collection, Profile Books)
- Nation of Strangers: Rebuilding Home in the 21st Century by Ece Temelkuran (Canongate)
- Indignity: A Life Reimagined by Lea Ypi (Allen Lane, Penguin Press, Penguin Random House UK)
The shortlist of six will be announced on 25 March 2026, with the winner revealed on Thursday 11 June 2026 at the Women’s Prize Trust’s summer party in Bedford Square Gardens, London.
