LONDON (AP) 鈥� American novelist Virginia Evans won the on Thursday with 鈥淭he Correspondent,鈥� a word-of-mouth bestseller that made her a literary star after seven unpublished novels.
Canadian journalist Lyse Doucet won the with 鈥淭he Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People鈥檚 History of Afghanistan.鈥�
Both prizes come with a 30,000 pound ($40,000) purse and are open to female English-language writers from any country.
Evans wrote fiction for two decades before writing 鈥淭he Correspondent” during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was released quietly in 2025. A story told through years鈥� worth of letters from retired lawyer Sybil Van Antwerp to friends, family and famous writers, it gradually climbed bestseller lists and became a book club favorite. A film adaptation starring Jane Fonda is in the works.
Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who chaired the fiction judging panel, said the novel 鈥渃aptured our hearts鈥� by 鈥渆levating an ordinary life in the most heartfelt of ways.鈥�
Evans said she 鈥渄eveloped a very thick skin for rejection and failure鈥� during the years of writing without getting published.
鈥淲hy did I keep going? I didn鈥檛 know how not to, I guess,鈥� she told The Associated Press.
鈥淚 was writing the book that I wanted to read,鈥� she added. 鈥淚 guess the book that I was wanting to read was the book a lot of people were wanting to read.鈥�
She said 鈥淭he Correspondent鈥� is in part a cry against the loss of handwritten letters 鈥� 鈥渢he real tale of history鈥� 鈥� in our digital age.
鈥淚f you want to know what happened somewhere, you need to read somebody saying to their mom, 鈥楾his is what happened to me today,'” she said. “And so I feel a grief about that. There鈥檚 something I probably was reaching for when I was writing the book, which was the preservation of the memory of that.鈥�
Doucet, the BBC鈥檚 chief international correspondent, profiles staff and guests of Kabul鈥檚 once-glamorous Inter-Continental Hotel 鈥� scarred but still standing 鈥� to provide a microcosm of Afghanistan鈥檚 turbulent recent history.
Labour Party politician Thangam Debbonaire, head of the nonfiction jury, called it 鈥渁 perfect work of narrative non-fiction鈥� that is 鈥渋nformed by decades of excellent reporting.鈥�
Doucet, who has been visiting Afghanistan as a journalist since the 1980s, said she wrote the book to provide a fuller picture than the 鈥渟napshot鈥� of news coverage allows.
鈥淢y experience from decades of covering countries and people in the hardest of times is that people still have to get up every day and find an everyday courage to get through the day,鈥� she said. “And even in the darkest of places 鈥� people find humor to bring light, they try to live with hope to bring some kind of relief and they try to live with humanity.鈥�
Previous winners of the fiction prize, founded in 1996, include Zadie Smith, and .
The sister was founded in 2024 to help redress a gender imbalance in publishing. In 2022, only 26.5% of nonfiction books reviewed in Britain鈥檚 newspapers were by women, and male writers dominated established nonfiction writing prizes.
Last year鈥檚 nonfiction winner was British physician Rachel Clarke鈥檚 account of an organ transplant, 鈥淭he Story of a Heart.鈥�
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