Indian origin writers Megha Majumdar and Sheena Kalayil make 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist

The longlist for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction has been announced. This year, Indian-origin writers Megha Majumdar and Sheena Kalayil are on the list for their novels The Guardian and a Thief and The Others, respectively

The shortlist of six will be announced on April 22 and the winner, on June 11. The winner will receive £30,000, along with a statuette known as the “Bessie”, created by the late artist Grizel Niven.

This year’s Chair of Judges is Julia Gillard, former Prime Minister of Australia, and she is joined by poet, novelist and essayist Mona Arshi, author, presenter, poet and speaker Salma El-Wardany, writer, podcaster, actor and comedian Cariad Lloyd, and author, broadcaster and DJ Annie Macmanus.

Here is the complete longlist:

• Gloria Don’t Speak , Lucy Apps

• Paradiso 17, Hannah Lillith Assadi

• Moderation, Elaine Castillo

• Flashlight, Susan Choi

• Dominion, Addie E Citchens

• The Benefactors, Wendy Erskine

• The Correspondent, Virginia Evan’s

• The Mercy Step, Marcia Hutchinson

• The Others, Sheena Kalayil

• Kingfisher, Rozie Kelly

• Heart the Lover, Lily King

• Audition, Katie Kitamura

• A Guardian and a Thief, Megha Majumdar

• Wild Dark Shore, Charlotte McConaghy

• The Best of Everything, Kit de Waal

• A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing, Alice Evelyn Yang