Alongside the announcement of the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction Shortlist today, we're thrilled to have had the opportunity to ask this year's Chair of Judges Kavita Puri some questions. 

Keep reading to find out about the judging process for this year's prize as well as a couple of additional non-fiction recommendations.

The Women's Prize for Non-Fiction will be announced on the 12th June 2025.

After 28 years of celebrating outstanding, ambitious, original novels, the charitable trust behind the Women's Prize for Fiction, Women’s Prize Trust announced the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction in February 2024. How important a development do you think that this was for the publishing industry - and for women?

The prize is hugely significant in platforming some of the best female writers and experts. If you look at so many indicators, from who is commissioned, the advance, who gets reviewed, and which books are bought, female non-fiction writers are not doing as well as they should be given their wealth of expertise and authority. Their voice is essential as an equal partner in our public discourse, and discussing ideas and perspectives.   

Kavita you’re a journalist, author, and broadcaster, and the chair of judges for the 2025 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction, we’d love to hear about your journey with the prize so far.

It has been both intense and very enriching. Since August every spare moment has been reading, and I have entered new worlds, and learnt so much, and am in awe of the exceptional female writers. The judges have got along brilliantly, and it has been a very nourishing experience to hear their views, and discuss these wonderful books. We have a WhatsApp group and are messaging frequently, and not only about books!

And we’d love to hear about your team of fellow judges and the process you went through together.

Between us, we read all the submissions, and whittled those down over half a day to the longlist. We all re-read the books and then came to the shortlist and now we have one meeting left to decide the winner.

The longlist was announced on 12th February, in this, the second year of the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction. It’s a rich and diverse list of books, how challenging was it to decide upon those 16 books from the 150 submissions?

We were looking for outstanding writing, and all of the 16 books have captivating prose that elevate their subject matter. The quality and originality of research as well as story-telling was also important. And we always asked ourselves, would these books be read in the decades to come. And we feel these 16 books will stand the test of time.  

And today, the shortlist is announced, how would you describe the winning selection of non-fiction and are there any themes?

The books are different genres - from memoir to current affairs, nature writing, biography, and science. They all touch different subjects. They are united by an unforgettable voice, rigour, and unique insight, as well as exquisite writing. They all, in their own way, tell us something original about the human condition, and the world we live in. 

We appreciate that we can’t ask for your favourite book on the list, but do you have a favourite non-fiction read outside of this year’s submissions? 

The first two books of non-fiction that I read when I finished reading all the submissions was an excellent new book out in May Helen Carr’s Sceptred Isle - A New History of the Fourteenth Century. I also read the Baillie Gifford Winner Richard Flanagan’s Question 7, which blew me away.

As a lover of books and a writer yourself, what do you look for in a great piece of non-fiction?

To be told something I didn’t know, or to have an original perspective on a subject I may know, and for it to be told in a way that is completely captivating, both in the writing, as well structure.