How did the new prize come about?
In February 2023, the Women’s Prize Trust announced its intention to create this new annual book award. It’s almost 30 years since the Women’s Prize for Fiction was launched, and it had long been the trust’s goal to establish a sister prize to amplify exceptional narrative non-fiction writing by women. There also was a sense of the zeitgeist. For some time, I’ve also advocated for a non-fiction prize for women. The new award was made possible by funding from the Charlotte Aitken Trust [which supports literature, writing and reading], Findmypast [a UK-based family tree company] and an anonymous donor.