Finalists announced for The Orwell Prizes in Political Writing and Political Fiction
Winners to be revealed 25 June
The Orwell Prize has announced the 16 finalists for the 2026 Orwell Prize for Political Writing and Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. Across fiction and non-fiction, the Prizes aim to encourage good writing and thinking about politics, with the judges tasked with choosing the books which best meet Orwell’s own ambition ‘to make political writing into an art’.
Eight finalists have been selected for each prize, representing a wide range of voices, geographies and political perspectives. Many of the books speak directly to the defining political crises of recent years, while themes of conflict, upheaval, identity and authoritarianism run through both lists.
The winners will be revealed on 25 June at Bloomsbury Theatre, London, as part of UCL200 — the bicentenary of University College London.
Browse the lists below and click on the titles to read reflections from the judges.
The Orwell Prize for Political Writing
The Escape from Kabul | Karen Bartlett, Duckworth Books
Israel: What Went Wrong? | Omer Bartov, Fern Press
Shattered Lands | Sam Dalrymple, Harper Collins
For the Sun After Long Nights | Nilo Tabrizy & Fatemeh Jamalpour, Atlantic Books
Three Years on Fire | Andrey Kurkov, Open Borders Press
The Wall Dancers | Yi-Ling Liu, Bonnier Books
The Elements of Power | Nicolas Niarchos, William Collins
Stalin’s Apostles | Antonia Senior, Hodder & Stoughton
The Chair of Judges for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing is Rohan Silva, the founder of Libreria bookshop in Spitalfields, and co-founder of Second Home. Accompanying Silva on the judging panel is Sam Bowman, founding editor of Works in Progress and head of publishing at Stripe, Sir Lawrence Freedman, an Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King’s College London, Jessie Lau, an independent writer, editor and multi-platform journalist from Hong Kong and Katie Prescott, the technology business editor at The Times and co-host of The Times Tech Podcast.
Rohan Silva, Chair of Judges for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2026, said:
“This shortlist engages with the defining crises of the present era. Although many of these authors were new to us – and indeed the majority of the finalist books are debut works of non-fiction – these are the writings that demanded our attention and taught us the most. As judges, we returned again and again to what George Orwell means to us: clarity of prose and unflinching intellectual bravery. From the chaotic exit from Afghanistan and the war in Ukraine to the enduring tragedy in Israel and Palestine, the ghosts of totalitarianism, and human stories of resistance and survival, each of these books examines the world with rigour and empathy. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we have.”
The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction
Uprising | Tahmima Anam, Canongate
Flashlight | Susan Choi, Penguin Random House
The Comfort of Distant Stars | I.O. Echeruo, Canongate
Transcription | Ben Lerner, Granta
This is Where the Serpent Lives | Daniyal Mueenuddin, Bloomsbury
Every One Still Here | Liadan Ní Chuinn, Granta
John of John | Douglas Stuart, Picador
A Private Man | Stephanie Sy-Quia, Picador
Chairing the judging panel for Political Fiction is journalist Fiammetta Rocco, formerly culture editor of The Economist and administrator for the International Booker Prize from which she stepped away in 2025 after 20 years. Joining her on the panel is Scarlett Baron, an Associate Professor in the English Department at UCL, Olivette Otele a Distinguished Research Professor of the Legacies and Memory of Slavery at SOAS, University of London and Cal Revely-Calder, the Literary Editor of The Telegraph.
Fiammetta Rocco, Chair of Judges for The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2026, said:
“Politics, in its widest sense, courses through all these books. The eight finalists for the 2026 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction have thought long and hard about abortion, contraception, gay rights, geopolitics, corruption, religious dogma, regulating technology and treating mental illness. Though these books are all quite different, they are united in showing how much a life of political engagement is a life of purpose and connection with humanity.”
About The Orwell Prizes
The Orwell Prizes aim to encourage good writing and thinking about politics, with our panels of independent judges asked to find winning entries which best meet Orwell’s own ambition ‘to make political writing into an art’. The Prizes exist to champion creativity and to explore plurality of opinion across books and journalism.
Since the Orwell Prize was awarded for the first time in 1994, the number of categories has grown to include awards celebrating writing and reporting which draws on the full range of Orwell’s contemporary legacy. In 2026, the Orwell Foundation is running six prizes: the Orwell Prize for Political Writing, the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, the Orwell Prize for Journalism, the Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils, the Orwell Prize for Reporting Homelessness and the Orwell Youth Prize.
The finalists for The Orwell Journalism Prizes were announced earlier this week. The shortlist for the 2026 Orwell Youth Prize will be announced on Friday 22 May.