Why we still need a Women’s Prize for books

my reading list just got WAY bigger

from left: Dr Leah Broad, me, Elizabeth Buchan, Kavita Puri, Dr Elizabeth-Jane Burnett

I said I’d slide into your inboxes with a quick thing I wanted to share while I’m away. I’m off to a remote town in Italy on Saturday to work on a new book. Before I go, and switch off my phone for a bit, I wanted to share some genuinely fun work news with you.

Years ago there was a job advertisement that went viral on social media. It said ‘get paid to watch Netflix.’ Someone was needed to watch twenty hours a week of TV as a creative analyst at the streaming platform, and people went mad for it. Well, this is how I feel right now! Fantasy job alert.

I'm thrilled to announce today that I'm a judge for the 2025 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction. Instead of watching TV though, I get to spend HOURS every week reading incredible books as part of my job — and I feel so lucky and honoured to be doing so. I’ve been laying low for a while so it’s nice to be part of something again, with team-mates!

The Women’s Prize is an incredible thing. It is one of the most successful, influential and popular literary prizes in the world, championing and amplifying women’s voices and nurturing a global community of readers. Back in the 90s, despite 60% of novels published annually in the UK being written by women and 75% of novels bought being purchased by women, fewer than 9% of novels by women were shortlisted for major literary awards. In other words, women’s creative work was not being respected and celebrated in the same way as that of their male counterparts. So, voila, the Women's Prize for Fiction was born.

Things haven’t changed enough since then (sadly). And so, the prize is still needed. Personally, in the non-fiction space I work in (and I am a non-fiction judge!) I still feel the gap. When my business book The Multi-Hyphen Method was first published in 2018 and made it onto the Sunday Times Business bestseller list, I was sandwiched between a Mark, a Matthew, a Tim, a Tom, Simon and a Steve. I remember the alliteration vividly. I felt really proud to be the only woman on the list. But where were the others? The majority of business books, on the shelves of WH Smith, were written by men. These were the ‘smart thinking’ books — whereas I was pigeon-holed yet again as a woman writing about women stuff. Even though we covered the same topics.

Some people may still question why we still need a Women’s Prize. Cut to last year’s stats and it’s still pretty clear. There is still an inequality between men and women’s book advances. Women’s books are less likely to be reviewed in the UK national media (only 25% of non-fiction reviews in papers were allocated to female writers). Women’s books are less likely to appear in the ‘Best Books of Year’ articles (only 33% of the non-fiction books selected in 2022 were by women). They are less likely to be shortlisted for – or win – major non-fiction prizes (again 33% of winning books over the past ten years were by women). I could go on. Let me just say it’s a JOY to be currently reading so many diverse stories by women. A truly fascinating array of topics and expertise.

I’m so excited to be part of the team this year. We’re rolling up our sleeves. And if I am slow to reply to emails, please know it’s because I’m swimming in a sea of books. There are books in my bed. There are books under my desk. There are books in every handbag. There are my books in my kitchen as I boil the kettle. There are books under my pillow. Books, books, books. 📖

with my fellow judges <3

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pssst. if you’re new around here, I’m thrilled you’ve discovered this little corner of the Internet. I’m Emma Gannon, a writer and author of eight books across fiction and non-fiction. I like to write about wellbeing, creativity and living life on your own terms. Most recently I released a smaller indie book project called A Year of Nothing which is back on sale next month.

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