Women’s Prize For Fiction 2021

Susanna Clarke has won the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction with her novel Piranesi

Chair of judges and novelist Bernardine Evaristo, said: “We wanted to find a book that we’d press into readers’ hands, which would have a lasting impact. With her first novel in seventeen years, Susanna Clarke has given us a truly original, unexpected flight of fancy which melds genres and challenges preconceptions about what books should be. She has created a world beyond our wildest imagination that also tells us something profound about what it is to be human.”

This year, Bernardine was joined by Elizabeth Day, podcaster, author and journalist; Vick Hope, TV and Radio presenter, journalist and writer; Nesrine MalikGuardian columnist and writer; and Sarah-Jane Mee, Sky news presenter and broadcaster. Explore the books they’ve chosen below.

The Women’s Prize for Fiction – one of the greatest annual, international celebrations of women’s creativity, now in its 26th year – honours outstanding, ambitious, original fiction written in English by women from anywhere in the world.

Watch the livestream of our winner announcement

2021 Shortlist

2021 Longlist

2021 Judges

What were the 2021 Women’s Prize judges looking for in a winning book?

Key dates

Longlist
announced

Shortlist
announced

Winner
announced

The Women's Prize Podcast


Tune into host Vick Hope and a line-up of incredible guests on our weekly podcast full of unmissable book recommendations.