Queen Camilla, ever the book-lover, spent an afternoon with some of the United Kingdom’s biggest and up-and-coming female authors as she helped celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Women’s Prize for Fiction in London.
The Women’s Prize for Fiction is centered on the idea of improving access to “and appreciation of women’s writing for all readers,” according to its official website, and also provides the awards platform and nurtures “a supportive, global community of readers and writers.”
At the reception, the Queen mingled with all of the shortlisted authors for this year’s prize iteration while also chatting with past winners and judges.
As a special mark of recognition for their first 30 years, the Women’s Prize for Fiction organisers created the Women’s Prize Outstanding Contribution Award, which Queen Camilla presented to Bernardine Evaristo for “her significant impact on the world of literature,” according to Buckingham Palace.
Queen Camilla then delivered a speech and made sure to mention how important the milestone of creating and nurturing the Women’s Prize for Fiction had been.
She recalled that in 1995, the year the Prize was established “was a significant year for women across the globe,” as the Space Shuttle was piloted by a woman for the first time, a woman scaled Mount Everest alone for the first time, and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was won by a woman.
But despite all the female achievements elsewhere, in the world of UK literature, the numbers were more daunting. Queen Camilla recalled how only 9 per cent of books by women that year were shortlisted for major literary prizes despite 60 per cent of all books in the UK being written by women.
“A brave and determined group…believed that women’s stories should be truly heart, understood and honoured,” the Queen said. This lead to the creation of The Women’s Prize for Fiction, which Queen Camilla called a “simple but radical” step.
She then finished by congratulating the Prize’s organisers for having “transformed the literary landscape for women.” Read Queen Camilla’s speech in full here.
Afterwards, Buckingham Palace shared on social media: “30 years of celebrating women’s voices in literature!”
The Women’s Prize for Fiction shared on their social media: “What an incredible day we had yesterday” welcoming the Queen for the reception before hosting a reading from the shortlisted authors later that evening.
The 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction winner was The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden, while The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke won the Non-Fiction Prize.
