The 2024 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction announced its shortlist on 27 March. The prize was establised to honour exceptional narrative non-fiction by women and "promotes excellence in writing, robust research, original narrative voices and accessibility, showcasing women's expertise across a range of fields," according to the prize's website.
This award, the sister prize of the Women's Prize for Fiction, is open to all women writers who write in English and are published in the United Kingdom. The winner receives £30,000 and a sculpture called the "Charlotte" from the Charlotte Aitken Trust. Sponsors of the prize are online audiobook and podcast service Audible, beverage brand Baileys, and online genealogy service Findmypast.
"Our magnificent shortlist is made up of six powerful, impressive books that are characterised by the brilliance and beauty of their writing and which each offer a unique, original perspective," said broadcaster and writer Professor Suzannah Lipscomb, who chairs the judging panel. "The readers of these books will never see the world – be it through art, history, landscape, politics, religion or technology – the same again."
The six titles chosen for the inaugural prize appears to set the tone for the award moving forward. The common thread that runs through the selections is the "originality of voice and an ability to turn complex ideas and personal trauma into inventive, compelling and immersive prose."
Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and Life and Sudden Death by Laura CummingChatto & Windus
9781784744526
On 12 October 1654, a gunpowder store in the Dutch city of Delft exploded. Among the casualties was Dutch artist Carel Fabritius, now known for his painting called "The Goldfinch", and the incident was dubbed the Delft Thunderclap. Art critic Laura Cumming brings to life the time and place Fabritius lived in, shedding light on his life and work, while sharing stories about her artist father and showing us how art influences us and our worldview.
Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi KleinAllen Lane
9780241621318
Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein has been mistaken for someone she now considers her doppelganger: former feminist Naomi Wolf, who has become a conspiracy theorist. Curious, Klein follows her doppelganger into the rabbit hole of online radicalism – anti-vaxxers and whatnot, giving readers a glimpse into an alternate reality shaping certain views in the post-truth era and exploring how it feels to see your "mirror" self live a life so different from yours.
A Flat Place by Noreen MasudHamish Hamilton
9780241544051
In this memoir, writer and scholar Noreen Masud explores various flatlands in Britain and in the process, tries to make sense of the trauma that stemmed from her childhood in Pakistan and subsequent move to Scotland. A thoughtful and evocative meditation on the "flatness" of memory and place, and a journey to find solace and belonging in landscapes thought to be forgettable and unworthy of poetic or artistic attention.
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya MilesProfile
9781800818200
An object in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture is a testament to a mother's love for her child when parts of the United States practised slavery. Harvard historian Tiya Miles traces the journey of Ashley's Sack and pieces the stories of the mother, her child, and the child's granddaughter to write about the experience of slavery and the uncertain freedom afterwards.
Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI by Madhumita MurgiaPicador
9781529097306
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the buzzword of the day in corporations and hotly debated. Its potential in numerous fields has been touted to hell and back, but what of the hidden costs of its development and implementation? Madhumita Murgia, AI Editor at the Financial Times, tells the stories of those impacted by the development and use of AI, which are largely absent from the glitzy, sanguine reports of an AI-driven future.
How to Say Babylon: A Jamaican Memoir by Safiya Sinclair4th Estate
9780008491284
Poet Safiya Sinclair's memoir about growing up in a strict Rastafarian family in Jamaica. Besides laying down the law in his household, Sinclair's father tended to rail against "Babylon", the influence of the corrupt, immoral West. Even under these conditions, she and her siblings fared rather well, thanks to their mother, who provided them with books and a means of escape from a stifling environment.
The winner of the inaugural 2024 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction will be announced on 13 June. All these are solid contenders but only one can take the prize. Who will it be?
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