six 'remarkable books . . .

. . . by some exceptional writers'

The Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in Non-Fiction written by women.

When the Prize was set up last year it was a result of realising that, although women were writing just as good non-fiction books as men, they were far less likely to be reviewed or to be on display in shops. So the aim was to bring some of these books to the attention of readers. Last year’s prize brought up some wonderful books and this year has done the same. 

The Longlist was wonderful in its scope and the Shortlist is an excellent selection. 

These are the six. They are largely self-explanatory - more information here.

I have only read one - Raising Hare, which I really enjoyed, but I intend reading all six. I am currently loving the Neneh Cherry book, a remarkable story, beautifully and lovingly told. I knew very little about Neneh Cherry, I only came across her once years ago when I was going through a phase of following the work of the Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician Youssou N’Dour. On one of his albums was the track 7 Seconds which featured Neneh Cherry. This became the best song of 1994 and was very popular. It was interesting reading in this book how the collaboration came about. 


And when a child is born into this world
It has no concept 
Of the tone of skin it’s living in