The Women’s Prize Trust recently announced its long list of authors up for consideration for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Two of the 16 authors are of Indian origin – Sheena Kalayil and Megha Majumdar.
“An expansive list that showcases the profound force, resonance and scale of fiction writing, the 16 titles – including nine from independent publishers and seven debuts – are a true treasure trove for readers,” the Trust said in its March 4 announcement. The winner of the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction, sponsored by Audible and Baileys, will receive £30,000, anonymously endowed, along with a statuette known as the ‘Bessie’, created and donated by the late artist Grizel Niven.
This year’s judges include Chair Julia Gillard, former Prime Minister of Australia, poet, novelist and essayist, Mona Arshi, author, presenter, poet and speaker, Salma El-Wardany, writer, podcaster, actor and comedian, Cariad Lloyd, and author, broadcaster and DJ, Annie Macmanus.
The judges will now narrow down the longlist to a shortlist of six, which will be announced on 22 April 2026. The winner of the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction 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 Non-Fiction).
The books tackle a wide range of issues – global turbulence to familial relationships, “and reflects on today’s ever increasing crisis of identity and search for human connection.”
Majumdar is a New York-based author from India. Her debut novel A Burning was on the New York Times Bestseller list. Her book A Guardian and a a Thief under consideration, was selected by the Oprah’s Book Club.
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Kalayil is the author of The Bureau of Second Chances, The Inheritance, The Wild Wind and the book for which she is longlisted -The Others (2025).
The full list in alphabetical order by author surname is:
- Gloria Don’t Speak by Lucy Apps (Weatherglass Books)
- Paradiso 17 by Hannah Lillith Assadi (4th Estate, HarperCollins Publishers UK)
- Moderation by Elaine Castillo (Atlantic Books)
- Flashlight by Susan Choi (Jonathan Cape, Vintage, Penguin Random House UK)
- Dominion by Addie E. Citchens (Europa Editions UK)
- The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine (Sceptre, Hodder & Stoughton, Hachette UK)
- The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House UK)
- The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson (Cassava Republic Press)
- The Others by Sheena Kalayil (Fly on the Wall Press)
- Kingfisher by Rozie Kelly (Saraband)
- Heart the Lover by Lily King (Canongate)
- Audition by Katie Kitamura (Fern Press, Vintage, Penguin Random House UK)
- A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar (Scribner, Simon & Schuster UK)
- Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Canongate)
- The Best of Everything by Kit de Waal (Tinder Press, Headline Publishing Group, Hachette UK)
- A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing by Alice Evelyn Yang (Dead Ink)