On June 13, 2024 at a live ceremony in Bedford Square Gardens in London, The Women’s Prize Trust announced the winner of the 2024 Women’s Prize for Fiction and the inaugural Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction. The ceremony was hosted by novelist and playwright Kate Mosse.
The 29th Women’s Prize for Fiction was won by V. V. Ganeshananthan, for Brotherless Night, her second novel, published by Viking (Penguin Random House). Ganeshananthan received £30,000 and the ‘Bessie’, a bronze statuette created by the artist Grizel Niven.
The judging panel this year was chaired by Booker Prize-shortlisted writer Monica Ali, alongside authors Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ and Laura Dockrill; actor Indira Varma; and presenter and author Anna Whitehouse. Ali, lauded Ganeshananthan for how “her commitment to complexity and clear-eyed moral scrutiny combines with spellbinding storytelling to render Brotherless Night a masterpiece of historical fiction”.
The inaugural Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction was won by Naomi Klein for Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, published by Allen Lane (Penguin Random House). Klein received £30,000 and the ‘Charlotte’, an artwork created by the sculptor Ann Christophe, both of which were gifted by the Charlotte Aitken Trust.
The judgeing panel this year was chaired by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb, alongside fair fashion campaigner Venetia La Manna; Professor Nicola Rollock; biographer and journalist Anne Sebba; and author Kamila Shamsie. Professor Lipscomb described Doppelganger as “courageous, humane and optimistic call-to-arms that moves us beyond black and white, beyond Right and Left, inviting us instead to embrace the spaces in between”.
The Women’s Prize for Fiction is sponsored by Audible and Baileys, and the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction is sponsored by Findmypast. The Women’s Prize Trust is a UK charity that aims to enrich society by creating fair opportunities for women in the world of books.
Words by Ed Bedford
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