Women's Prize for Non-Fiction
The 2027 Judges
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“It is an enormous privilege to be chairing a panel of such impressive women, in a category of writing that has been a constant source of joy and learning throughout my own career. Women’s non-fiction writing is all too often overlooked and undervalued and, together with my fellow judges, I look forward to amplifying the voices of those whose experience, wisdom, and expertise can enrich us all.” – Susie Dent, chair of the 2027 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction
A panel of five women – all passionate readers and at the top of their respective professions – choose the winner of the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction.
The 2027 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction is chaired by Susie Dent, lexicographer, writer and broadcaster, joined by Shrabani Basu, historian, biographer, and journalist; Reeta Chakrabarti, journalist, broadcaster and novelist; Sophie Morgan, writer, broadcaster, artist and disability advocate, and Emma Reed Turrell; psychotherapist, author, podcaster and speaker.
Susie Dent is a lexicographer, writer and broadcaster on language and communication. For over 30 years she has been co-presenter and the resident word expert on Channel 4’s Countdown, and also appears on the show’s comedy sister 8 out of 10 Cats does Countdown. Most recently she has been co-hosting Channel 4’s hit show Secret Genius alongside Alan Carr. In addition to her regular contributions to word-related discussions across television and radio, Dent is the author of many non-fiction books, including her latest exploration of language, Words for Life, and her recently published second novel, Death Writ Large.
Sophie Morgan is a writer, broadcaster, artist and disability advocate. Her bestselling memoir Driving Forwards, recently optioned for television, traces the years after the car crash that left her a paraplegic at eighteen. Recently awarded Specialist Travel Writer of the Year, she writes regularly for The Times, The Telegraph and Condé Nast Traveller, and is contributing editor for Wanderlust. She is also a BAFTA-nominated broadcaster, voted one of the UK’s leading voices in disability rights: her documentary Fight to Fly examined accessibility in air travel, and in 2024 she founded the campaign Rights on Flights, which has taken her from Downing Street to the White House and changed UK aviation law.
Shrabani Basu is a bestselling author, journalist, historian and biographer. Her books include the critically acclaimed The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer, For King and Another Country, Victoria & Abdul (which was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film), Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan, and Curry: The Story of the Nation’s Favourite Dish. Born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India, Basu began her career as a journalist for the Times of India before moving to London in 1987, where she served as the London correspondent for the Indian newspaper group ABP for over three decades. She is the founder and chair of the Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust, a frequent commentator on radio and television on Indian history and Empire, and an ambassador for the RAF Museum in London. She has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by the Universities of London and Bournemouth for services to literature.
Reeta Chakrabarti is a journalist and broadcaster, and a presenter for BBC News. Chakrabarti was born in London, brought up in Birmingham, and attended Calcutta International School in India as a teenager before returning to the UK for university. She began working for the BBC in 1992 and has been there in a variety of roles – including reporting extensively in the UK and abroad – for over 30 years. Chakrabarti’s debut novel, Finding Belle, was published in 2020, and her second, An Impossible Woman, will be published in April 2027. She is a trustee of the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association, lives in London with her husband, and has three children.
Emma Reed Turrell is a psychotherapist, author, podcaster and speaker. After ten years working in business, she returned to her longstanding interest in psychology and retrained as a psychotherapist. Reed Turrell is the author of Please Yourself: How to Stop People-Pleasing and Transform the Way You Live and What Am I Missing? Discover the Four Blind Spots That Are Holding You Back and How to Overcome Them. Her third book, Life Boat: A Therapist’s Stories of Change, Resilience and Hope, will be published in April 2027. Reed Turrell is also the host of Dial Emma, the popular podcast in which she responds to listeners’ real-life dilemmas with therapeutic insight, warmth and practical reflection.
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