Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction celebrates original, incisive, accomplished longlist
Blake Morgan is proud to be a partner of, and the Official Legal Provider to, the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction. On Wednesday 12 February, the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction longlist was announced for 2025, drawing on authors from a wide range of professional spheres and expertise, including a music icon, human rights lawyer, political adviser, marine biologist, NHS palliative care doctor and Pulitzer Prize Winner.
The music icon Neneh Cherry has been chosen alongside a newly elected Member of Parliament, Yuan Yang. Also on the longlist is the NHS palliative care doctor and writer, Rachel Clarke; two podcasters, Rebecca Nagle and Lulu Miller; a human rights lawyer, Harriet Wistrich; a political adviser, Chloe Dalton; and a marine biologist, Helen Scales. There are several celebrated established writers, including Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Applebaum, Jenni Fagan, Kate Summerscale and Alexis Wright. The award-winning biographer Sue Prideaux shares the stage with three acclaimed historians: Eleanor Barraclough, Helen Castor, and Clare Mulley. Six writers have been nominated for their debut non-fiction publication: Neneh Cherry, Chloe Dalton, Jenni Fagan, Lulu Miller, Rebecca Nagle and Yuan Yang.
To view the full longlist, please click here.
Kavita Puri, Chair of Judges, said:
Judging the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction has been a huge privilege, and reading the books submitted has been both enlightening and enriching. My fellow judges and I are thrilled with the selection of sixteen books on this year’s longlist. What unites these diverse titles, that boast so many different disciplines and genres, is the accomplishment of the writing, the originality of the storytelling and the incisiveness of the research.
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.
British writers dominate this year’s longlist, with 11 of the 16 authors from the UK. Varying in subject matter, style and genre, readers will find agenda-setting reportage on contemporary issues alongside revisionist histories and myth-busting biographies; insightful memoirs and intimate narratives that shine a light on ordinary people are combined with real-life criminal cases, notorious and forgotten. A handful of the books defy genre-classification, weaving multiple disciplines into one compelling narrative work.
The 2025 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.
Several of the books raise pertinent questions about our contemporary lives, whilst others offer solutions to combat complacency. Autocracy, Inc. uncovers the international networks that threaten democracy, whilst What the Wild Sea Can Be provides an impassioned examination of the existential threat to our oceans, with a cautious optimism for its protection. The stories behind ten landmark legal cases in Sister in Law receive a reappraisal, demonstrating the failure of the law when defending the female sex. Private Revolutions, a portrait of modern China told through the lives of four ordinary women striving for equality, is also featured alongside a work of passionate reportage, By the Fire We Carry, that tells the story of the forced removal of Native Americans onto treaty lands, braiding it with a murder case from the 1990s.
There are memoirs that captivate and surprise: Ootlin ruminates on life growing up in the broken care system, whilst Raising Hare portrays the improbable bond between a human and wild animal. Why Fish Don’t Exist is a genre-bending personal journey, weaving history and science, that shows us how to embrace chaos, and A Thousand Threads provides a behind-the-scenes dive into Neneh Cherry’s life as a famous musician, as well as an activist, daughter, mother and friend.
Sweeping, authoritative history is also notable, from Embers of the Hands that illuminates the Viking age through the everyday objects of common people, to The Eagle and the Hart which explores the power struggles of medieval England with all its contemporary resonances. Wild Thing re-examines a trailblazing, yet controversial post-impressionist artist, casting new light from fresh research, whilst two others introduce new heroic figures formerly in the shadows; Tracker, a creative oral history that pieces together the life of an Aboriginal human rights champion, sits proudly alongside Agent Zo, the previously untold story of a World War II female resistance fighter. Kate Summerscale takes on a infamous murderer from the 1950s in The Peepshow, providing new solutions to a well-known case. The Story of a Heart narrates a miraculous development in 20th century medicine – the heart transplant – showing us the human impact of this life-giving medical intervention.
Kavita Puri is joined on the judging panel by the writer and broadcaster Dr Leah Broad, whose work focuses on women’s cultural history; novelist and critic Elizabeth Buchan; writer and environmental academic Dr Elizabeth-Jane Burnett; and author and writer of The Hyphen newsletter on Substack, Emma Gannon.
The judges will narrow down this longlist of 16 books to a shortlist of six, which will be announced on Wednesday 26 March. The 2025 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction will be awarded on Thursday 12 June 2025 at the Women’s Prize Trust’s summer party in central London. The winner will receive a cheque for £30,000 and a limited-edition artwork known as the ‘Charlotte’, both gifted by the Charlotte Aitken Trust.
Share:
