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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Aamna Mohdin

Thursday briefing: Thirty years of the Women’s prize for fiction – have male novelists been edged out?

Women Martin Amis Elizabeth Jane Howard Bernardine Evaristo Booker Hilary Mantel Jane Austen Margaret Atwood Sally Rooney Samantha Harvey
VV Ganeshananthan and Naomi Klein win the 2024 Women’s prize for fiction and non-fiction.
VV Ganeshananthan and Naomi Klein win the 2024 Women’s prize for fiction and non-fiction. Photograph: Matt Crossick/PA Media Assignments/PA

Good morning, and happy new year! While there are many exciting celebrations in 2026, for me, none is more special than the 30th anniversary of the Women’s prize for fiction.

Formerly the Orange, and then Baileys prize, this annual award for the best novel in English by a woman was founded in 1996 to rectify a glaring absence: the all-male 1991 Booker prize shortlist.

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