The Women’s Prize for Nonfiction 2025 longlist has been announced and includes works by music icon Neneh Cherry, newly elected Member of Parliament Yuan Yang and Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Applebaum.
Awarded for excellence, originality and accessibility in narrative non-fiction, the Women’s Prize for Nonfiction runs as a sister prize to the globally recognised Women’s Prize for Fiction, which this year celebrates its 30th anniversary.
The panel of five judges – Kavita Puri, Dr Leah Broad, Elizabeth Buchan, Dr Elizabeth-Jane Burnett, Emma Gannon – will whittle the lineup down to a shortlist of six, which will be announced on Wednesday, 26 March.
This year’s longlist includes writing drawn from a range of disciplines, from geo-politics, art, music, natural history and true crime, to law, science, medicine and history.
British writers dominate the 2025 longlist, with 11 of the 16 authors from the UK. Those selected include a mixture of new and well-established writers and features six dazzling nonfiction debuts.
The Women’s Prize for Nonfiction 2025 longlist is as follows:
- Anne Applebaum Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World
- Eleanor Barraclough Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age
- Helen Castor The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV
- Neneh Cherry A Thousand Threads
- Rachel Clarke The Story of A Heart
- Chloe Dalton Raising Hare
- Jenni Fagan Ootlin
- Lulu Miller Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love and the Hidden Order of Life
- Clare Mulley Agent Zo: The Untold Stories of Fearless WW2 Resistance Fighter Elżbieta Zawacka
- Rebecca Nagle By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land
- Sue Prideaux Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin
- Helen Scales What the Wild Sea Can Be: The Future of the World’s Ocean
- Kate Summerscale The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place
- Harriet Wistrich Sister in Law: Fighting for Justice in a System Designed by Men
- Alexis Wright Tracker
- Yuan Yang Private Revolutions: Coming of Age in a New China
The inaugural Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction in 2024 was won by Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein.
Klein’s winning book investigates the world of “conspiracy theories, anti-vaxxers and demagogue hucksters”, with the author critiquing president Donald Trump on the night of her victory.
In a similar vein, Puri, chairwoman of the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction judges said of this year’s list: “Here are books that provoke debate and discussion, that offer insight into new experiences and perspectives, and that bring overlooked stories back to life and recognition.
“Amongst this stellar list, there are also reads that expertly steer us through the most pressing issues of our time, show the resilience of the human spirit, alongside others that elucidate the dangers of unchecked power, the consequence of oppression and the need for action and defiance.”
