We are thrilled to announce the 16 books that have made the 2025 #WomensPrize for Non-Fiction longlist! With authors drawn from a wide range of professional spheres and expertise, discover some brilliant books that will inform, educate and inspire you for years to come.

#journorequest I'm looking for a couple who met at a book club - please send your story to [email protected]

I was baffled by this Danish 🇩🇰 bestseller. There are six books to come in this series and I’m probably not the reviewer for them but I was happy to cover this one for The TLS.

Spring book choices 💐 from me in the current edition of The Standard standard.co.uk/culture/books/…

― Sylvia Plath

Well, I’m shocked. It turns out that Labour adding VAT to private school fees did *not* lead to an exodus to the state sector, despite the hysteria of critics. Who would have thought it?? Y’know, other than every normal person in the country. theguardian.com/education/2025…

Labour MPs saying “the clue is in the name” to justify benefit cuts is wildly disingenuous. It co-opts Labour’s history to imply all those that cannot physically labour are somehow excluded from the cause. Being pro-worker does not require being anti-unemployed or anti-disabled.

Thomas Mann, whose definition of a writer was succinct: "someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people."

If you don't normally post or write about disability rights because you don't feel like you know enough about the subject, or it's not your fight to fight, or it's not a sexy enough topic... now would be a pretty good time to start

A brilliant and important piece on the horror of Long Covid by Kathryn Bromwich. It is very depressing but this is the reality for those of us with Long Covid. If you want to understand (and truly, I get it if you don’t) then this is an excellent place to start theguardian.com/society/2025/m…

Before Rachel Reeves makes her Spring Statement speech on Wednesday I urge her to read this article by Frances Ryan.”I can’t sleep, I’m so scared’: disabled people face benefit cuts domino effect” theguardian.com/society/2025/m…

NEW: Marine le Pen found guilty of embezzlement. Could face 5 year prohibition on running for office- ruling her out of the 2027 presidential contest. She will continue to run until an appeal against the verdict is heard.

When misguided well-wishers suggest to Edelstein, post-mastectomy, that she might now have ‘the breasts of her dreams’, she wants to reply that those had always been her own. ✍️ Alex Peake-Tomkinson buff.ly/c24Oyfn

Back here to exhort you to read Jean Hannah Edelstein's brilliant memoir, Breasts: A Relatively Brief Relationship Phoenix Books, which I've reviewed for the current issue of The Spectator. It's only 99 pages long and so worth your time.

We’re so excited to reveal the cover for Dead and Alive by Zadie Smith. The celebrated author of White Teeth delivers a fiercely intelligent and searching collection of essays covering culture in all its forms! Pre-order the signed edition: bit.ly/4cB7ByZ

The characters from Loved and Missed stay with me so I wrote more about them for the new Granta. granta.com/all-being-well/

Even as a Kathy Burke super fan, I didn’t realise this was happening until her editor told me last night — delighted that her memoir is imminent!

There are still a few tickets 🎟️ left for my talk with Susie Boyt about the incredible Loved and Missed this Thursday eventbrite.co.uk/e/loved-and-mi…

As a content moderator of the internet, thirty-something Girlie is accustomed to stomach-churning videos. But how will she fare in the VR theme park sector? ✍️ Alex Peake-Tomkinson spectator.co.uk/article/pity-t…

Delighted to have the lead fiction review FT Weekend this weekend, not least because it’s been illustrated by Heather Gatley! The review is of Amy Bloom’s new novel, I’ll Be Right Here, which I didn’t find easy to disentangle. Thank you to Maria Crawford for the commission.