The 30th Women’s Prize Shortlist Is Here

3 weeks ago

Three decades on since the prize was first awarded, the Women’s Prize for Fiction is back with its latest shortlist

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The 30th Women’s Prize Shortlist Is Here

Just under a month after the Women’s Prize revealed its second annual Non Fiction longlist, the Trust returned with its prestigious Fiction prize. ‘These are important, far-reaching novels where brilliantly realised characters navigate the complexities of families and modern relationships, whilst pushing the boundaries placed around them,’ 2025’s chair of judges Kit de Waal said by way of introduction to the longlist of 16 books in March. And now it’s time for the shortlist: the longlist whittled down to just six titles, which will battle it out for the top prize in June.

Who’s On The 2025 Women’s Prize Shortlist?

Good Girl by Aria Aber
All Fours by Miranda July
The Persians by Sanam Maloudji
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis

‘Over the past three decades the Women’s Prize for Fiction has celebrated imaginative, accomplished novels year after year, and in doing so has helped change the landscape for fiction writing in the UK,’ de Waal says on the shortlist. ‘Over the past six months, my fellow judges and I have been knee-deep in reading our submissions, consumed by the fully-realised worlds created by an incredible range of voices.

‘Now that we arrive at the announcement of our shortlist, what seems absolutely apparent to me is how perfectly each of these six novels exemplify the original tenets of the Prize: originality, accessibility and sheer brilliance,’ de Waal continues. ‘Our selection celebrates rich, multi-layered narratives that will surprise, move and delight the reader, all drawing on, in different ways, the importance of human connection. What is surprising and refreshing is to see so much humour, nuance and lightness employed by these novelists to shed light on challenging concepts. I’m in no doubt that these six novels will become the classics of the future.’

Of the six authors, three are American, one is British, one German and one Dutch-Israeli. Four of the six shortlisted novelists are commended for their debut work: Aria Aber, Sanam Mahloudji, Yael van der Wouden and Nussaibah Younis. On the flipside, Elizabeth Strout is practically prolific, Tell Me Everything being her tenth novel and second Women’s Prize shortlisting; two of her previous novels made it onto the longlist. All Fours is Miranda July’s second publication after a short story collection.

On the flipside, who at first seemed the stiffest competition has fallen out of the race: world-famous best-selling author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Her latest work, Dream Count, is her first publication in a decade and made it onto the Women’s Prize longlist, but the pandemic-set novel has not impressed the judges to the same extent as her previous works. Purple Hibiscus made the shortlist in 2004, as did Americanah in 2014, while Half of a Yellow Sun won the prize in between those two shortlistings in 2007. Better still, Half of a Yellow Sun won the Prize’s 25th anniversary poll, named the ‘Winner of Winners’ by fans in 2020. That said, all four of Adichie’s novels have been recognised by the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and that’s surely an achievement in itself.

The shortlist will now be narrowed down to one winner, who will be revealed at a ceremony in central London on Thursday 12 June 2025, along with the winner of the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction. The winner will receive a £30,000 cheque and a trophy.

Who Was On The Longlist?

Good Girl by Aria Aber (shortlisted)
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Somewhere Else by Jenni Daiches
Amma by Saraid de Silva
Crooked Seeds by Karen Jennings
All Fours by Miranda July (shortlisted)
The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
The Persians by Sanam Maloudji (shortlisted)
Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Nesting by Roisín O’Donnell
A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike
Birding by Rose Ruane
The Artist by Lucy Steeds
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (shortlisted)
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (shortlisted)
Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis (shortlisted)

Of the 16 authors, six are British, three are American, and there is one Moroccan-American, one German, one Dutch-Israeli, one Irish, one New Zealander, one Nigerian and one South African. The qualifying publication period for 2025 is 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. Last year, V. V. Ganeshananthan won with her novel Brotherless Night which depicts the Sri Lankan civil war.

Of the 16 longlisted novels, nine were debuts and two sophomore novels. Laila Lalami was previously longlisted in 2010 with Secret Son, and again, she didn’t make it to the shortlist.

‘I’m thrilled to announce the longlist for the 30th Women’s Prize for Fiction,’ de Waal said when the longlist was announced. ‘It has been an absolute honour to be immersed in so many utterly exhilarating and hugely imaginative books during the reading process. There were many lively debates on the judging panel over the final 16 books and it was a very close-run thing, but the list we have revealed today is overflowing with compelling stories, and writing that demonstrates passion, wit and empathy.’

On the judging panel, de Waal is joined by novelist and journalist Diana Evans, author, journalist and mental health campaigner Bryony Gordon, magazine editor Deborah Joseph and musician Amelia Warner.