Virginia Evans wins Women’s Prize for Fiction, Lyse Doucet wins nonfiction prize

Virginia Evans and Lyse Doucet won the 2026 Women’s Prize awards in London on June 11, with Evans taking the fiction prize for The Correspondent and Doucet winning the nonfiction prize for The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History of Afghanistan.

Each award carries £30,000.

Fiction winner

Evans won the Women’s Prize for Fiction for The Correspondent, a debut novel centered on Sybil Van Antwerp, a 73-year-old retired lawyer whose life is told through letters.

The fiction judging panel was chaired by former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard.

Nonfiction winner

Doucet won the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction for The Finest Hotel in Kabul, a narrative history of Afghanistan centered on Kabul’s InterContinental Hotel.

Doucet, the BBC’s chief international correspondent, has drawn on decades of reporting in the region for the book. The nonfiction judging panel was chaired by Thangam Debbonaire.

Prize context

The Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction was launched in 2023 and is awarded alongside the long-running fiction prize. Both awards are open to female English-language writers from any country.

This year’s result gives major visibility to two books that each arrived with a strong narrative focus: a debut novel in fiction and a reported history in nonfiction. Coverage also described The Correspondent as a breakout bestseller that later attracted film-adaptation interest.

Why it matters

The Women’s Prize can significantly boost sales, profile and future adaptation interest. For nonfiction in particular, the award has become an important platform for women’s narrative nonfiction, while the fiction prize remains one of the most closely watched literary honors in the UK.

The winners were announced at the London ceremony on June 11, 2026, and there are no immediate unresolved questions in the available reporting.