Lyse Doucet and Daisy Fancourt shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction 2026!
We’re delighted that both Daisy Fancourt (ART CURE) and Lyse Doucet (THE FINEST HOTEL IN KABUL) have been shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction 2026 🎊
Chair of Judges, Thangam Debbonaire says:
“Our shortlist shows the power and necessity of women’s writing at a time when recent statistics suggest a decline in non-fiction print sales in the UK. These books are an urgent antidote to mis- and dis-information, written with high standards of scholarship. They offer rich and original insights, in what often feels like a fragmented and uncertain world. They are six books of authority, told with humanity.”
The full shortlist is below; the winner will be revealed on Thursday 11 June 2026 at the Women’s Prize Trust’s summer party in Bedford Square Gardens, London (along with the winner of its sister prize, the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction):
The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History of Afghanistan by Lyse Doucet (published by Hutchinson Heinemann, Cornerstone, Penguin Random House UK)
Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health by Daisy Fancourt (published by Cornerstone Press, Cornerstone, Penguin Random House UK)
Artists, Siblings, Visionaries: The lives and loves of Gwen and Augustus John by Judith Mackrell (published by Picador, Pan Macmillan)
Hotel Exile: Paris in the Shadow of War by Jane Rogoyska (published by Allen Lane, Penguin Press, Penguin Random House UK)
Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy (published by Hamish Hamilton, Penguin General, Penguin Random House UK)
Nation of Strangers: Rebuilding Home in the 21st Century by Ece Temelkuran (published by Canongate)