On Thursday 12 June 2025, the winners of the Women’s Prize for Fiction and Non-Fiction were announced. It marked the 13th awarding of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and the second of the Prize for Non-Fiction, in a ceremony hosted by the founding director Kate Mosse. Kate Mosse led a delightfully funny ceremony before announcing the award for Outstanding Contribution and the Prizes for Fiction and Non-Fiction. The ceremony was hosted in an outdoor setting in London while being livestreamed on YouTube. It followed a day event on 11 June, hosted in London’s Bedford Square, where people could attend panels featuring the shortlists and other successful female authors discussing literature. Even Her Majesty, Queen Camilla, made an appearance at this day-long event to deliver a speech, part of honouring 30 years of the award. It fed into the wider celebrations and community created by the award, showcasing amazing authors, not just the shortlisted ones, to a broad audience. Now, let us see who the winners are.
Bernardine Evaristo was awarded the Outstanding Contribution Prize for her dedication to literature and spoke about the journey, in her speech, of her writing career. Most notably, she is known for her feminist novel
Girl, Woman, Other and has 10 books published to date. The award was given as a one-off literary honour to mark thirty years of the Women’s Prize.
Winner of the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction
The non-fiction books on the shortlist have been celebrated for sharing women’s voices and highlighting the reality of women’s present and past. The judging panel declared Rachel Clarke’s
The Story of a Heart the winner. It was praised for leaving a long-lasting impression on its readers and telling such a moving story alongside the bravery and dedication of NHS staff who assisted in the story of Kira’s heart.
Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction
The Women’s Prize for Fiction was awarded to
The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden. Finally, our much-beloved post-World War Two queer love story has taken the win. Having been a personal favourite to win the Booker Prize 2024, I was glad to see it shortlisted for this prize, and for it to win felt like a great achievement for this novel. Van Der Wouden, when accepting the award, discussed her experience of being intersex and how choosing to present as a woman makes her realise how lucky she is to receive the award.
This time, the sense of community and engagement felt stronger, as people were being brought together not only by good literature, but by celebrating women’s voices that are central to it
A big shout to Fundamentally, as Nussaibah Younis set Nadia and her ex, Rosy’s, first encounter in Warwick University’s very own Dirty Duck, where they both completed their Master’s. The other books on the shortlist were all of a high standard, and unlike with the Booker Prize, I would have been happy to see any of them win. The Persians, by Sanam Mahloudji, and Good Girl by Aria Aber, were two of my other favourites to win, and I would highly recommend them alongside the winner. I felt the entire shortlist strongly represented the award they were shortlisted for and gave a global perspective of womanhood.
This time, the sense of community and engagement felt stronger, as people were being brought together not only by good literature but by celebrating women’s voices that are central to it. This made the reads feel better placed together in the same shortlist and amplifies the experiences, topics, and relationships explored. They celebrate women’s rights and wrongs while providing some essential escapism from today’s society.
On reflection, I would read this shortlist again, over the Booker shortlist, next year if I were looking for books with strong voices and a variety of experiences. There are events and merchandise linked to the Women’s Prize that further the sense of community and ultimately make me live shared experiences with these amazing authors.
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