The 30th Women’s Prize Longlist Is Here
By
3 hours ago
Three decades on since the prize was first awarded, the Women’s Prize for Fiction is back with a longlist of 16 novels
Just under a month after the Women’s Prize revealed its second annual Non Fiction longlist, the Trust is back 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,’ says 2025’s chair of judges Kit de Waal by way of introduction. ‘It’s a list that readers will devour and shows the echoes of world events on everyday lives as well as the power and brilliance of women writing today.’ Here’s the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2025 longlist in full.
Who’s On The 2025 Women’s Prize Longlist?
- Good Girl by Aria Aber
- 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
- The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
- The Persians by Sanam Majloudji
- 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
- The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
- Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
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 are debuts and two are sophomore novels. Laila Lalami was previously longlisted in 2010 with Secret Son, while prolific writer Elizabeth Strout was shortlisted for her debut novel Amy & Isabelle in 2000, and longlisted twice since. But it’s world-famous best-selling author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who presents the stiffest competition: with Dream Count’s longlisting, all four of Adichie’s novels have been recognised by the Women’s Prize for Fiction. 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.
‘I’m thrilled to announce the longlist for the 30th Women’s Prize for Fiction,’ says Kit de Waal. ‘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.
The Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist will now be whittled down from 16 to six books, with the shortlist revealed on 2 April 2025. The winner 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.
DISCOVER
Stay up to date at womensprize.com
Shop the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist at bookshop.org
To mark International Women’s Day on 8 March 2025, 10 percent of every book sale made on Bookshop.org on 8 and 9 March 2025 will be donated to the Women’s Prize Trust.
