The Women’s Prize for Fiction is the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world.
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans has won the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction. An uplifting and moving novel that confronts the hubris of youth with the wisdom of older age, the 2026 judges described it as “exemplary”, and having “captured their hearts”.
Winner
Composed of letters to friends, family and real-life authors, The Correspondent is an uplifting and moving novel that confronts the hubris of youth with the wisdom of older age. Through her 73-year-old protagonist Sybil Van Antwerp’s connection with the written word, Evans considers the choices we make, those we regret and unexpected second chances.
The Correspondent
The Women’s Prize for Fiction 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.
The Prize was established in 1996 to highlight and remedy the imbalance in coverage, respect and reverence given to women writers versus their male peers, creating a platform for exceptional writing by women to shine.
The Prize is awarded annually to the author of the best full-length novel of the year written in English and published in the UK. The winner receives £30,000, anonymously endowed, and the ‘Bessie’, a bronze statuette created by the artist Grizel Niven.
Every year, a panel of five women, all passionate readers and at the top of their respective professions, choose the winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
The whole process starts in the summer of the previous year, when we invite UK publishers to submit eligible books.
Submissions for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2026 are now closed. Full terms and conditions of eligibility can be found here
Judges plunge immediately into reading their allocated books, basing their deliberations for the longlist, shortlist and winner on three core tenets, which have remained the same since the Prize was founded: excellence, originality and accessibility.
The 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist will be announced on 4 March 2026, and the shortlist on the 22 April 2026. Winners of both prizes will be revealed on 11 June at the charity’s annual summer party in Bedford Square Gardens, London.
2025: The Safekeep
Yael van der Wouden
2024: Brotherless Night
V. V. Ganeshananthan
2023: Demon Copperhead
Barbara Kingsolver
2022: The Book of Form & Emptiness
Ruth Ozeki
2021: Piranesi
Susannah Clarke
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