Every Women's Prize for Fiction winner, 1996–2026

The Women's Prize for Fiction has gone to 31 books since 1996. Given each year to a novel written in English by a woman of any nationality and published in the UK. It was called the Orange Prize for Fiction from 1996 to 2012 (the Orange Broadband Prize in 2007 and 2008) and the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction from 2014 to 2017. The latest winner is The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (2026). The most readable is An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (difficulty 36/100, about 5.3 hours); the hardest is How to Be Both by Ali Smith (76/100). The quickest to finish is Property by Valerie Martin, at about 3.6 hours.

How book difficulty is measured

2026

• The Correspondent by Virginia Evans — difficulty 43/100, about 5.2 hours
• Flashlight by Susan Choi — shortlist
• Dominion by Addie E. Citchens — shortlist
• The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson — shortlist
• Kingfisher by Rozie Kelly — shortlist
• Heart the Lover by Lily King — shortlist
• Audition by Katie Kitamura — longlist
• A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar — longlist
• The Others by Sheena Kalayil — longlist
• Moderation by Elaine Castillo — longlist
• Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy — longlist
• A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing by Alice Evelyn Yang — longlist
• The Best of Everything by Kit de Waal — longlist
• Paradiso 17 by Hannah Lillith Assadi — longlist
• Gloria Don't Speak by Lucy Apps — longlist
• The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine — longlist

2025

• The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden — difficulty 72/100, about 8.8 hours
• Good Girl by Aria Aber — shortlist
• All Fours by Miranda July — shortlist
• The Persians by Sanam Mahloudji — shortlist
• Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout — shortlist
• Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis — shortlist
• Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie — longlist
• Crooked Seeds by Karen Jennings — longlist
• A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike — longlist
• Amma by Saraid de Silva — longlist
• The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley — longlist
• Somewhere Else by Jenni Daiches — longlist
• Nesting by Roisín O'Donnell — longlist
• Birding by Rose Ruane — longlist
• The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami — longlist
• The Artist by Lucy Steeds — longlist

2024

• Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan — difficulty 49/100, about 6.4 hours
• The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright — shortlist
• Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville — shortlist
• Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad — shortlist
• Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy — shortlist
• River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure — shortlist
• Western Lane by Chetna Maroo — longlist
• 8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster by Mirinae Lee — longlist
• And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott — longlist
• Hangman by Maya Binyam — longlist
• In Defence of the Act by Effie Black — longlist
• The Blue, Beautiful World by Karen Lord — longlist
• The Maiden by Kate Foster — longlist
• Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan — longlist
• A Trace of Sun by Pam Williams — longlist
• Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie — longlist

2023

• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver — difficulty 39/100, about 12 hours
• Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks — shortlist
• Trespasses by Louise Kennedy — shortlist
• Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris — shortlist
• The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell — shortlist
• Pod by Laline Paull — shortlist
• Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin — longlist
• The Dog of the North by Elizabeth McKenzie — longlist
• The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff — longlist
• Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes — longlist
• Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow — longlist
• I'm a Fan by Sheena Patel — longlist
• Homesick by Jennifer Croft — longlist
• Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo — longlist
• Children of Paradise by Camilla Grudova — longlist
• Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh — longlist

2022

• The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki — difficulty 57/100, about 11 hours
• The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini — shortlist
• The Sentence by Louise Erdrich — shortlist
• Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason — shortlist
• The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak — shortlist
• Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead — shortlist
• This One Sky Day by Leone Ross — longlist
• The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller — longlist
• Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith — longlist
• Careless by Kirsty Capes — longlist
• Creatures of Passage by Morowa Yejidé — longlist
• Flamingo by Rachel Elliott — longlist
• Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey — longlist
• Salt Lick by Lulu Allison — longlist
• The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton — longlist
• The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson — longlist

2021

• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke — difficulty 76/100, about 7.8 hours
• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett — shortlist
• Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller — shortlist
• Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi — shortlist
• How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones — shortlist
• No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood — shortlist
• Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers — longlist
• Summer by Ali Smith — longlist
• Nothing But Blue Sky by Kathleen MacMahon — longlist
• Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters — longlist
• Consent by Annabel Lyon — longlist
• Luster by Raven Leilani — longlist
• The Golden Rule by Amanda Craig — longlist
• Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi — longlist
• Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan — longlist
• Because of You by Dawn French — longlist

2020

• Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell — difficulty 52/100, about 7.1 hours
• Dominicana by Angie Cruz — shortlist
• Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo — shortlist
• A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes — shortlist
• The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel — shortlist
• Weather by Jenny Offill — shortlist
• Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner — longlist
• Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson — longlist
• Girl by Edna O'Brien — longlist
• The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo — longlist
• How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee — longlist
• Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara — longlist
• Nightingale Point by Luan Goldie — longlist
• The Dutch House by Ann Patchett — longlist
• Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams — longlist
• Actress by Anne Enright — longlist

2019

• An American Marriage by Tayari Jones — difficulty 36/100, about 5.3 hours
• The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker — shortlist
• My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite — shortlist
• Milkman by Anna Burns — shortlist
• Ordinary People by Diana Evans — shortlist
• Circe by Madeline Miller — shortlist
• Bottled Goods by Sophie van Llewyn — longlist
• Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi — longlist
• Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss — longlist
• Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli — longlist
• The Pisces by Melissa Broder — longlist
• Swan Song by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott — longlist
• Remembered by Yvonne Battle-Felton — longlist
• Praise Song for the Butterflies by Bernice L. McFadden — longlist
• Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lillian Li — longlist
• Normal People by Sally Rooney — longlist

2018

• Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie — difficulty 51/100, about 4.8 hours
• The Idiot by Elif Batuman — shortlist
• The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar — shortlist
• Sight by Jessie Greengrass — shortlist
• When I Hit You by Meena Kandasamy — shortlist
• Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward — shortlist
• A Boy in Winter by Rachel Seiffert — longlist
• H(A)PPY by Nicola Barker — longlist
• Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon — longlist
• Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig — longlist
• Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan — longlist
• The Trick to Time by Kit de Waal — longlist
• See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt — longlist
• The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy — longlist
• Elmet by Fiona Mozley — longlist
• Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman — longlist

2017

• The Power by Naomi Alderman — difficulty 55/100, about 6.3 hours
• Stay With Me by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ — shortlist
• The Dark Circle by Linda Grant — shortlist
• The Sport of Kings by C. E. Morgan — shortlist
• First Love by Gwendoline Riley — shortlist
• Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien — shortlist
• The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain — longlist
• Barkskins by Annie Proulx — longlist
• The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry — longlist
• The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O'Neill — longlist
• The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso — longlist
• Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood — longlist
• Little Deaths by Emma Flint — longlist
• The Mare by Mary Gaitskill — longlist
• The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride — longlist
• Midwinter by Fiona Melrose — longlist

2016

• The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney — difficulty 55/100, about 6.8 hours
• Ruby by Cynthia Bond — shortlist
• The Green Road by Anne Enright — shortlist
• The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie — shortlist
• The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild — shortlist
• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara — shortlist
• A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson — longlist
• The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers — longlist
• The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks — longlist
• A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton — longlist
• My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout — longlist
• Rush Oh! by Shirley Barrett — longlist
• The House at the Edge of the World by Julia Rochester — longlist
• Girl at War by Sara Novic — longlist
• Pleasantville by Attica Locke — longlist
• At Hawthorn Time by Melissa Harrison — longlist
• The Anatomist's Dream by Clio Gray — longlist
• Gorsky by Vesna Goldsworthy — longlist
• The Book of Memory by Petina Gappah — longlist
• Whispers Through a Megaphone by Rachel Elliott — longlist

2015

• How to Be Both by Ali Smith — difficulty 76/100, about 11 hours
• Outline by Rachel Cusk — shortlist
• The Bees by Laline Paull — shortlist
• A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie — shortlist
• A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler — shortlist
• The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters — shortlist
• The Offering by Grace McCleen — longlist
• The Life of a Banana by PP Wong — longlist
• The Shore by Sara Taylor — longlist
• The Walk Home by Rachel Seiffert — longlist
• The Table of Less Valued Knights by Marie Phillips — longlist
• The Country of Ice Cream Star by Sandra Newman — longlist
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel — longlist
• Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey — longlist
• Dear Thief by Samantha Harvey — longlist
• I Am China by Xiaolu Guo — longlist
• The Girl Who Was Saturday Night by Heather O'Neill — longlist
• Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans — longlist
• Aren't We Sisters? by Patricia Ferguson — longlist
• After Before by Jemma Wayne — longlist

2014

• A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride — difficulty 59/100, about 5.6 hours
• Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie — shortlist
• Burial Rites by Hannah Kent — shortlist
• The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri — shortlist
• The Undertaking by Audrey Magee — shortlist
• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt — shortlist
• All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld — longlist
• The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout — longlist
• Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen — longlist
• Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson — longlist
• The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner — longlist
• The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert — longlist
• Reasons She Goes to the Woods by Deborah Kay Davies — longlist
• The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton — longlist
• The Strangler Vine by M. J. Carter — longlist
• Eleven Days by Lea Carpenter — longlist
• MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood — longlist
• The Dogs of Littlefield by Suzanne Berne — longlist
• The Shadow of the Crescent Moon by Fatima Bhutto — longlist
• The Bear by Claire Cameron — longlist

2013

• May We Be Forgiven by A. M. Homes — difficulty 54/100, about 12 hours
• Life After Life by Kate Atkinson — shortlist
• Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver — shortlist
• Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel — shortlist
• Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple — shortlist
• NW by Zadie Smith — shortlist
• Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson — longlist
• Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam — longlist
• How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti — longlist
• The People of Forever Are Not Afraid by Shani Boianjiu — longlist
• Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany — longlist
• The Forrests by Emily Perkins — longlist
• Honour by Elif Shafak — longlist
• A Trick I Learned from Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge — longlist
• Ignorance by Michele Roberts — longlist
• The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan — longlist
• The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman — longlist
• The Innocents by Francesca Segal — longlist
• The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber — longlist
• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn — longlist

2012

• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller — difficulty 52/100, about 6.6 hours
• Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan — shortlist
• The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright — shortlist
• Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding — shortlist
• Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick — shortlist
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett — shortlist
• The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen — longlist
• The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue — longlist
• Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon — longlist
• The Flying Man by Roopa Farooki — longlist
• On the Floor by Aifric Campbell — longlist
• Island of Wings by Karin Altenberg — longlist
• The Submission by Amy Waldman — longlist
• Tides of War by Stella Tillyard — longlist
• The Pink Hotel by Anna Stothard — longlist
• There but for the by Ali Smith — longlist
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern — longlist
• The Blue Book by A. L. Kennedy — longlist
• The Translation of the Bones by Francesca Kay — longlist
• Gillespie and I by Jane Harris — longlist

2011

• The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht — difficulty 63/100, about 7.9 hours
• Room by Emma Donoghue — shortlist
• The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna — shortlist
• Grace Williams Says It Loud by Emma Henderson — shortlist
• Great House by Nicole Krauss — shortlist
• Annabel by Kathleen Winter — shortlist
• The London Train by Tessa Hadley — longlist
• Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela — longlist
• Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch — longlist
• The Pleasure Seekers by Tishani Doshi — longlist
• Whatever You Love by Louise Doughty — longlist
• A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan — longlist
• The Swimmer by Roma Tearne — longlist
• The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin — longlist
• Swamplandia! by Karen Russell — longlist
• Repeat It Today with Tears by Anne Peile — longlist
• The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer — longlist
• The Road to Wanting by Wendy Law-Yone — longlist
• The Birth of Love by Joanna Kavenna — longlist
• The Seas by Samantha Hunt — longlist

2010

• The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver — difficulty 69/100, about 16 hours
• The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison — shortlist
• Black Water Rising by Attica Locke — shortlist
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel — shortlist
• A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore — shortlist
• The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey — shortlist
• The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters — longlist
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett — longlist
• The Still Point by Amy Sackville — longlist
• Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed — longlist
• The Wilding by Maria McCann — longlist
• The Long Song by Andrea Levy — longlist
• The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton — longlist
• Savage Lands by Clare Clark — longlist
• Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig — longlist
• The Way Things Look to Me by Roopa Farooki — longlist
• The Twisted Heart by Rebecca Gowers — longlist
• This Is How by M. J. Hyland — longlist
• Small Wars by Sadie Jones — longlist
• Secret Son by Laila Lalami — longlist

2009

• Home by Marilynne Robinson — difficulty 51/100, about 5.6 hours
• Scottsboro by Ellen Feldman — shortlist
• The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey — shortlist
• The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt — shortlist
• Molly Fox's Birthday by Deirdre Madden — shortlist
• Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie — shortlist
• The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber — longlist
• The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews — longlist
• American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld — longlist
• Evening Is the Whole Day by Preeta Samarasan — longlist
• The Russian Dreambook of Colour and Flight by Gina Ochsner — longlist
• The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser — longlist
• A Mercy by Toni Morrison — longlist
• The Household Guide to Dying by Debra Adelaide — longlist
• Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold — longlist
• Their Finest Hour and a Half by Lissa Evans — longlist
• Blonde Roots by Bernardine Evaristo — longlist
• Strange Music by Laura Fish — longlist
• Love Marriage by V. V. Ganeshananthan — longlist
• Intuition by Allegra Goodman — longlist

2008

• The Road Home by Rose Tremain — difficulty 52/100, about 6.4 hours
• Fault Lines by Nancy Huston — shortlist
• The Outcast by Sadie Jones — shortlist
• When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson — shortlist
• Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill — shortlist
• Lottery by Patricia Wood — shortlist
• Monster Love by Carol Topolski — longlist
• The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas — longlist
• The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer — longlist
• The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak — longlist
• Mistress by Anita Nair — longlist
• In the Dark by Deborah Moggach — longlist
• The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani — longlist
• The Room of Lost Things by Stella Duffy — longlist
• The Keep by Jennifer Egan — longlist
• The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant — longlist
• The Master Bedroom by Tessa Hadley — longlist
• Sorry by Gail Jones — longlist
• The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam by Lauren Liebenberg — longlist
• The Gathering by Anne Enright — longlist

2007

• Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie — difficulty 62/100, about 14 hours
• Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk — shortlist
• The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai — shortlist
• A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo — shortlist
• The Observations by Jane Harris — shortlist
• Digging to America by Anne Tyler — shortlist
• The Dissident by Nell Freudenberger — longlist
• The Housekeeper by Melanie Wallace — longlist
• Ten Days in the Hills by Jane Smiley — longlist
• Afterwards by Rachel Seiffert — longlist
• Careless by Deborah Robertson — longlist
• The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney — longlist
• What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn — longlist
• Alligator by Lisa Moore — longlist
• The Girls by Lori Lansens — longlist
• Poppy Shakespeare by Clare Allan — longlist
• Peripheral Vision by Patricia Ferguson — longlist
• Over by Margaret Forster — longlist
• When to Walk by Rebecca Gowers — longlist
• Carry Me Down by M. J. Hyland — longlist

2006

• On Beauty by Zadie Smith — difficulty 55/100, about 11 hours
• The History of Love by Nicole Krauss — shortlist
• Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel — shortlist
• The Accidental by Ali Smith — shortlist
• Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living by Carrie Tiffany — shortlist
• The Night Watch by Sarah Waters — shortlist
• White Ghost Girls by Alice Greenway — longlist
• The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory — longlist
• House of Orphans by Helen Dunmore — longlist
• Watch Me Disappear by Jill Dawson — longlist
• Disobedience by Naomi Alderman — longlist
• Harbor by Lorraine Adams — longlist
• Minaret by Leila Aboulela — longlist
• Dreams of Speaking by Gail Jones — longlist
• The Position by Meg Wolitzer — longlist
• Frangipani by Célestine Hitiura Vaite — longlist
• Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld — longlist
• Gilead by Marilynne Robinson — longlist
• Rape: A Love Story by Joyce Carol Oates — longlist
• Lost in the Forest by Sue Miller — longlist

2005

• We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver — difficulty 75/100, about 19 hours
• Billie Morgan by Joolz Denby — shortlist
• Old Filth by Jane Gardam — shortlist
• The Mammoth Cheese by Sheri Holman — shortlist
• A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka — shortlist
• Liars and Saints by Maile Meloy — shortlist
• It So Happens by Patricia Ferguson — longlist
• The River by Tricia Wastvedt — longlist
• The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates — longlist
• The Remedy by Michelle Lovric — longlist
• Black Dirt by Nell Leyshon — longlist
• Ursula, Under by Ingrid Hill — longlist
• Nelson's Daughter by Miranda Hearn — longlist
• Case Histories by Kate Atkinson — longlist
• The Great Sink by Clare Clark — longlist
• Escape Routes for Beginners by Kira Cochrane — longlist
• The Zigzag Way by Anita Desai — longlist
• Tatty by Christine Dwyer Hickey — longlist
• Away from You by Melanie Finn — longlist
• The Mysteries of Glass by Sue Gee — longlist

2004

• Small Island by Andrea Levy — difficulty 69/100, about 16 hours
• Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie — shortlist
• Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood — shortlist
• The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard — shortlist
• Ice Road by Gillian Slovo — shortlist
• The Colour by Rose Tremain — shortlist
• Gilgamesh by Joan London — longlist
• The Flood by Maggie Gee — longlist
• Kith and Kin by Stevie Davies — longlist
• The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler — longlist
• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger — longlist
• Love by Toni Morrison — longlist
• The Internationals by Sarah May — longlist
• A Visit from Voltaire by Dinah Lee Küng — longlist
• The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri — longlist
• Brick Lane by Monica Ali — longlist
• The Sari Shop by Rupa Bajwa — longlist
• State of Happiness by Stella Duffy — longlist
• The Electric Michelangelo by Sarah Hall — longlist
• Notes on a Scandal by Zoë Heller — longlist

2003

• Property by Valerie Martin — difficulty 55/100, about 3.6 hours
• Buddha Da by Anne Donovan — shortlist
• Heligoland by Shena Mackay — shortlist
• Unless by Carol Shields — shortlist
• The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith — shortlist
• The Little Friend by Donna Tartt — shortlist
• Water Street by Crystal Wilkinson — longlist
• The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh — longlist
• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold — longlist
• When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka — longlist
• In the Forest by Edna O'Brien — longlist
• Special by Bella Bathurst — longlist
• Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros — longlist
• English Correspondence by Janet Davey — longlist
• Dot in the Universe by Lucy Ellmann — longlist
• What the Birds See by Sonya Hartnett — longlist
• What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt — longlist
• War Crimes for the Home by Liz Jensen — longlist
• Fox Girl by Nora Okja Keller — longlist
• The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel — longlist

2002

• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett — difficulty 44/100, about 5.4 hours
• No Bones by Anna Burns — shortlist
• The Siege by Helen Dunmore — shortlist
• The White Family by Maggie Gee — shortlist
• A Child's Book of True Crime by Chloe Hooper — shortlist
• Fingersmith by Sarah Waters — shortlist
• Pop by Kitty Aldridge — longlist
• The Element of Water by Stevie Davies — longlist
• The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert — longlist
• Sister Crazy by Emma Richler — longlist
• The Hero's Walk by Anita Rau Badami — longlist
• La Cucina by Lily Prior — longlist
• Crawling at Night by Nani Power — longlist
• True Story Based on Lies by Jennifer Clement — longlist
• Now You See Me by Lesley Glaister — longlist
• Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris — longlist
• Niagara Falls All Over Again by Elizabeth McCracken — longlist
• The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd — longlist
• Middle Age: A Romance by Joyce Carol Oates — longlist
• The Story of My Face by Kathy Page — longlist

2001

• The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville — difficulty 65/100, about 10 hours
• The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood — shortlist
• Fred & Edie by Jill Dawson — shortlist
• Homestead by Rosina Lippi — shortlist
• Horse Heaven by Jane Smiley — shortlist
• Hotel World by Ali Smith — shortlist
• The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi — longlist
• The Powerbook by Jeanette Winterson — longlist
• The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan — longlist
• Caucasia by Danzy Senna — longlist
• Motherkind by Jayne Anne Phillips — longlist
• Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund — longlist
• In the Blue House by Meaghan Delahunt — longlist
• The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt — longlist
• Fish, Blood and Bone by Leslie Forbes — longlist
• The Wild by Esther Freud — longlist
• Dog Days, Glenn Miller Nights by Laurie Graham — longlist
• Nowhere Else on Earth by Josephine Humphreys — longlist

2000

• When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant — difficulty 56/100, about 4.8 hours
• If I Told You Once by Judy Budnitz — shortlist
• The Dancers Dancing by Éilís Ní Dhuibhne — shortlist
• White Teeth by Zadie Smith — shortlist
• Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout — shortlist
• Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells — shortlist
• Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith by Gina B. Nahai — longlist
• A Dangerous Vine by Barbara Ewing — longlist
• What the Body Remembers by Shauna Singh Baldwin — longlist
• Island by Jane Rogers — longlist
• Last Chance Texaco by Christine Pountney — longlist
• Charming Billy by Alice McDermott — longlist
• The Hunter by Julia Leigh — longlist
• Everything You Need by A. L. Kennedy — longlist
• The Translator by Leila Aboulela — longlist
• Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier — longlist
• Fasting, Feasting by Anita Desai — longlist
• Danny Boy by Jo-Anne Goodwin — longlist
• A Sin of Colour by Sunetra Gupta — longlist
• Born Free by Laura Hird — longlist

1999

• A Crime in the Neighborhood by Suzanne Berne
• The Leper's Companions by Julia Blackburn — shortlist
• Visible Worlds by Marilyn Bowering — shortlist
• The Short History of a Prince by Jane Hamilton — shortlist
• The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver — shortlist
• Paradise by Toni Morrison — shortlist
• Evening News by Marly Swick — longlist
• Comfort Woman by Nora Okja Keller — longlist
• A History of Silence by Barbara Neil — longlist
• The Most Wanted by Jacquelyn Mitchard — longlist
• The Giant, O'Brien by Hilary Mantel — longlist
• Marchlands by Karla Kuban — longlist
• The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox — longlist
• Buxton Spice by Oonya Kempadoo — longlist
• Trumpet by Jackie Kay — longlist
• Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge — longlist
• The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett — longlist
• In a Fishbone Church by Catherine Chidgey — longlist
• Crocodile Soup by Julia Darling — longlist
• Restitution by Maureen Duffy — longlist

1998

• Larry's Party by Carol Shields — difficulty 53/100, about 6.2 hours
• Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis — shortlist
• The Ventriloquist's Tale by Pauline Melville — shortlist
• The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett — shortlist
• Love Like Hate Adore by Deirdre Purcell — shortlist
• The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve — shortlist
• Baby Love by Louisa Young — longlist
• The Underpainter by Jane Urquhart — longlist
• Impossible Saints by Michele Roberts — longlist
• Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen — longlist
• The Orchard by Drusilla Modjeska — longlist
• Bitter Grounds by Sandra Benitez — longlist
• Man or Mango? by Lucy Ellmann — longlist
• Summer at Gaglow by Esther Freud — longlist
• The Aguero Sisters by Cristina Garcia — longlist
• The House Gun by Nadine Gordimer — longlist
• The Breaking by Kathryn Heyman — longlist
• Round Rock by Michelle Huneven — longlist
• Ark Baby by Liz Jensen — longlist
• Undiscovered Country by Christina Koning — longlist

1997

• Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels — difficulty 59/100, about 5.4 hours
• Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood — shortlist
• One by One in the Darkness by Deirdre Madden — shortlist
• I Was Amelia Earhart by Jane Mendelsohn — shortlist
• Accordion Crimes by Annie Proulx — shortlist
• Hen's Teeth by Manda Scott — shortlist
• Red Leaves by Paullina Simons — longlist
• All the Blood Is Red by Leone Ross — longlist
• The Cast Iron Shore by Linda Grant — longlist
• The Frequency of Souls by Mary Kay Zuravleff — longlist
• Gut Symmetries by Jeanette Winterson — longlist
• Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald — longlist
• With Child by Laurie R. King — longlist
• The Autobiography of My Mother by Jamaica Kincaid — longlist
• Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge — longlist
• The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni — longlist
• Death Comes for Peter Pan by Joan Brady — longlist
• The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion — longlist
• The Enchantment of Lily Dahl by Siri Hustvedt — longlist

1996

• A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore — difficulty 73/100, about 12 hours
• The Book of Colour by Julia Blackburn — shortlist
• Spinsters by Pagan Kennedy — shortlist
• The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan — shortlist
• Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler — shortlist
• Eveless Eden by Marianne Wiggins — shortlist
• The Love Letter by Cathleen Schine — longlist
• Mother of Pearl by Mary Morrissy — longlist
• River Lines by Elspeth Sandys — longlist
• Promised Lands by Jane Rogers — longlist
• Never Far from Nowhere by Andrea Levy — longlist
• So I Am Glad by A. L. Kennedy — longlist
• Egg Dancing by Liz Jensen — longlist
• The Passion of Alice by Stephanie Grant — longlist
• The Ghost Road by Pat Barker — longlist
• Official and Doubtful by Ajay Close — longlist
• The Rape of Sita by Lindsey Collen — longlist
• Keeping Up with Magda by Isla Dewar — longlist
• The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald — longlist
• The Private Parts of Women by Lesley Glaister — longlist

Questions

Who won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2026?

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans.

Which Women's Prize for Fiction winner should I read first?

For the gentlest start, An American Marriage by Tayari Jones: the easiest of the winners to read, with a difficulty of 36/100 and about 5.3 hours of reading. For the quickest, Property by Valerie Martin, about 3.6 hours.

Which Women's Prize for Fiction winner is the hardest to read?

How to Be Both by Ali Smith, with a difficulty of 76/100; it takes about 11 hours.

Who has won the Women's Prize for Fiction more than once?

Barbara Kingsolver (2010 and 2023).

How long would it take to read every Women's Prize for Fiction winner?

About 260 hours at an average reading pace, for the 30 winners with a measured length.

Winners from Wikipedia, checked 2026-10-31.

Other prizes: Nobel Prize in Literature, Booker Prize, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, International Booker Prize, National Book Award for Fiction, Hugo Award for Best Novel, Nebula Award for Best Novel, Prix Goncourt, Dublin Literary Award, PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, National Book Award for Nonfiction, Costa Novel Award, Albert J. Beveridge Award, Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction. Every literary prize; every winner of 2026.