A woman’s prize for non-fiction

Charlotte Zeyssolff discusses the introduction of a women’s prize for non-ficton in 2024

AS of 2024, a new literary prize will celebrate female non-fiction writers “regardless of their background”, the Women’s Prize Trust pledged, after research undertaken by the Charlotte Aitken Trust concluded that only 35.5 per cent of the books that were awarded non-fiction prizes in the last ten years were written by women. The Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction will reward writing about history, science, biography and philosophy among other subjects, written, and published by women in English. But will an award solely dedicated to the enhancement of female literary genius break down stereotypes, or will it segregate women into their own category of literature?

Competing with the Baillie Gifford Prize, which rewards all authors of non-fiction, one might question the need for a separate award.

The reality is that female authors battle a lack of publicity for their work, compared to their male counterparts.

Data compiled by Nielsen BookScan revealed that only a quarter of all nonfiction reviews in national newspapers concerned books by female authors.

The dilemma of how to celebrate female literary merit has been constant since the launch of the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 1996, in reaction to the absence of female nominees for the 1991 Booker Prize, despite 60 per cent of all published books for that year having female authors. Winner of the 1990 Booker Prize, A. S. Byatt, refused to have her writing considered for the new award, declaring that it assumed the existence of “a feminine subject matter’.” The similar confinement of women to nonfiction critically regarded as ‘sappy’ or less academic, particularly memoirs, has been criticised by Hallie Rubenhold, author of the highly acclaimed The Five. She suggests that while men have been encouraged to write “big, important works” about more “academically challenging” subjects like economics or warfare, women have had greater difficulty asserting themselves as “experts in a field”. As most non-fiction writers come from an academic background, the underrepresentation of female opinions in history, economics, and politics, arguably boils down to a lack of female academics in those subjects. In an ideal world, separation of genders within literary recompense would not be necessary to adequately recognise literary merit. It also begs the consideration of awards dedicated to non-binary and genderqueer people. In the meantime, honours like the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction are crucial to inspire future female writers and to rectify the sequestration of non-fiction to a male-dominated sphere.