Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
It's time to sort the good from the bad! Here are my takes on both the Women's Prize for FICTION and NON-FICTION shortlist, along with some additional recommendations from the Longlist that didn't make it.
Donate to the Women's Prize! womensprize.com/donate
Thanks to the Women's Prize for sending me the NON-fiction books. They were sent as a gift with no obligation to post and no payment exchanged. All fiction books were purchased by me.
Watch my videos about previous years' Women's Prize books: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb1-lu-abhnVfK3rRCSyUd73-3f1Z-fRc
00:00 intro
04:48 FICTION
06:16 Kingfisher by Rozie Kelly
08:18 Heart the Lover by Lily King
10:11 Dominion by Addie E. Citchens
12:20 Flashlight by Susan Choi
15:22 The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson
19:40 The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
22:48 NON-FICTION
24:08 The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet & Hotel Exile by Jane Rogoyska
28:00 Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
30:09 Nation of Strangers by Ece Temelkuran
31:50 Artists, Siblings, Visionaries by Judith Mackrell
38:05 Art Cure by Daisy Fancourt
41:10 Finding Albion by Zakia Sewell
41:56 Don’t Let It Break You, Honey by Jenny Evans
43:34 To Exist As I Am by Grace Spence Green
45:06 Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry
/// SUPPORT ///
JOIN THE GUMPTION CLUB: patreon.com/thegumptionclub
Being in the club means you get:
• A free weekly podcast
• Access to a secret DISCORD and Facebook group
• Exclusive poetry and playlists made by me
• Secret videos and digital downloads available to Gumption Club members only
• AND you get access to all of my YouTube videos before anyone else sees them!
(Quick tip for Apple device users: due to Patreon's arrangement with Apple being weird, it's actually more expensive to sign up to become a Gumption Club member via the Patreon app on an Apple device. If you are on an Apple device I would advise joining via a web browser (just visit patreon.com/c/thegumptionclub/), not the app. However, once you’ve signed up and paid elsewhere, you can still use the app on Apple devices to access Patreon as normal - easy peasy!)
CHANNEL MEMBERSHIP - for those lovely people who don't want to use Patreon and aren't bothered about the patreon perks, but who'd like to buy me a drink as a thank you for the free videos... youtube.com/channel/UCpqf-UHCeCSd0BqoxxrDv8g/join
ORDER my book ‘HALF-ARSE HUMAN’: leenanorms.com/halfarsehuman
ORDER my poetry collection, 'BARGAIN BIN ROM-COM' https://linktr.ee/bargainbinromcom
Nab yourself a POSITIVE PANIC PATCH:
leenanorms.com/shop
// COME AND HANG WITH ME IN BETWEEN UPLOADS //
Listen to my podcast, NO BOOKS ON A DEAD PLANET: https://linktr.ee/nobooksonadeadplanet
IF NEWSLETTERS ARE YOUR THING, sign up to get a little letter in your inbox from me once in a while! As a thank you for signing up, you’ll get a FREE downloadable list of my best books of all time: leenanorms.substack.com/subscribe
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/leenanorms
TWITTER: twitter.com/leenanorms
I use Octopus Energy which are a clean green sustainable energy company - if you're in the UK and are curious, here are the two videos I talk about them in:
youtu.be/O0TR7RvVRlI and youtu.be/IEqf94lb44U
And here's my referral link if you'd like to get £50 off (I get £50 off too, woo!) https://share.octopus.energy/fun-hawk-883
All music used is licensed through Epidemic Sound - I've been using them for years and hand-on-heart it's really fab. You get unlimited use of their music per month for a pretty bargain fee. Here's my referral link (if you sign up through it I get a free month): epidemicsound.com/referral/1b1yhj
If you're a company that makes plastic-free products, pays their tax and doesn't exploit people, I'd love to hear from you if you'd like to sponsor the channel: leenanorms@gmail.com
It's time to sort the good from the bad! Here are my takes on both the Women's Prize for FICTION and NON-FICTION shortlist, along with some additional recommendations from the Longlist that didn't make it.
Donate to the Women's Prize! womensprize.com/donate
Thanks to the Women's Prize for sending me the NON-fiction books. They were sent as a gift with no obligation to post and no payment exchanged. All fiction books were purchased by me.
Watch my videos about previous years' Women's Prize books: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb1-lu-abhnVfK3rRCSyUd73-3f1Z-fRc
00:00 intro
04:48 FICTION
06:16 Kingfisher by Rozie Kelly
08:18 Heart the Lover by Lily King
10:11 Dominion by Addie E. Citchens
12:20 Flashlight by Susan Choi
15:22 The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson
19:40 The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
22:48 NON-FICTION
24:08 The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet & Hotel Exile by Jane Rogoyska
28:00 Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
30:09 Nation of Strangers by Ece Temelkuran
31:50 Artists, Siblings, Visionaries by Judith Mackrell
38:05 Art Cure by Daisy Fancourt
41:10 Finding Albion by Zakia Sewell
41:56 Don’t Let It Break You, Honey by Jenny Evans
43:34 To Exist As I Am by Grace Spence Green
45:06 Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry
/// SUPPORT ///
JOIN THE GUMPTION CLUB: patreon.com/thegumptionclub
Being in the club means you get:
• A free weekly podcast
• Access to a secret DISCORD and Facebook group
• Exclusive poetry and playlists made by me
• Secret videos and digital downloads available to Gumption Club members only
• AND you get access to all of my YouTube videos before anyone else sees them!
(Quick tip for Apple device users: due to Patreon's arrangement with Apple being weird, it's actually more expensive to sign up to become a Gumption Club member via the Patreon app on an Apple device. If you are on an Apple device I would advise joining via a web browser (just visit patreon.com/c/thegumptionclub/), not the app. However, once you’ve signed up and paid elsewhere, you can still use the app on Apple devices to access Patreon as normal - easy peasy!)
CHANNEL MEMBERSHIP - for those lovely people who don't want to use Patreon and aren't bothered about the patreon perks, but who'd like to buy me a drink as a thank you for the free videos... youtube.com/channel/UCpqf-UHCeCSd0BqoxxrDv8g/join
ORDER my book ‘HALF-ARSE HUMAN’: leenanorms.com/halfarsehuman
ORDER my poetry collection, 'BARGAIN BIN ROM-COM' https://linktr.ee/bargainbinromcom
Nab yourself a POSITIVE PANIC PATCH:
leenanorms.com/shop
// COME AND HANG WITH ME IN BETWEEN UPLOADS //
Listen to my podcast, NO BOOKS ON A DEAD PLANET: https://linktr.ee/nobooksonadeadplanet
IF NEWSLETTERS ARE YOUR THING, sign up to get a little letter in your inbox from me once in a while! As a thank you for signing up, you’ll get a FREE downloadable list of my best books of all time: leenanorms.substack.com/subscribe
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/leenanorms
TWITTER: twitter.com/leenanorms
I use Octopus Energy which are a clean green sustainable energy company - if you're in the UK and are curious, here are the two videos I talk about them in:
youtu.be/O0TR7RvVRlI and youtu.be/IEqf94lb44U
And here's my referral link if you'd like to get £50 off (I get £50 off too, woo!) https://share.octopus.energy/fun-hawk-883
All music used is licensed through Epidemic Sound - I've been using them for years and hand-on-heart it's really fab. You get unlimited use of their music per month for a pretty bargain fee. Here's my referral link (if you sign up through it I get a free month): epidemicsound.com/referral/1b1yhj
If you're a company that makes plastic-free products, pays their tax and doesn't exploit people, I'd love to hear from you if you'd like to sponsor the channel: leenanorms@gmail.com
