April 2, 2025, 9:00am

Today, the UK’s Women’s Prize Trust announced the shortlist for the 30th Women’s Prize for Fiction, which “champions excellence, originality, and accessibility in women’s writing,” and is awarded to the best novel of each year written in English and Published in the UK.

“Now that we arrive at the announcement of our shortlist, what seems absolutely apparent to me is how perfectly each of these six novels exemplify the original tenets of the Prize: originality, accessibility and sheer brilliance,” said Kit de Waal, Chair of Judges, in a statement. “Our selection celebrates rich, multi-layered narratives that will surprise, move and delight the reader, all drawing on, in different ways, the importance of human connection. What is surprising and refreshing is to see so much humor, nuance and lightness employed by these novelists to shed light on challenging concepts. I’m in no doubt that these six novels will become the classics of the future.”

Here’s the shortlist:

Aria Aber, Good Girl

Miranda July, All Fours

Sanam Mahloudji, The Persians

Elizabeth Strout, Tell Me Everything

Yael van der Wouden, The Safekeep

Nussaibah Younis, Fundamentally

The winner will be announced on June 12 and will be awarded £30,000, as well as a bronze statuette called the “Bessie,” created by the artist Grizel Niven.