Lucy Cavendish Prize – the shortlist

Submitted: 19th May 2026

Lucy Cavendish Prize

This Thursday see the winner of the Lucy Cavendish prize announced… championing female emerging writers….

Exciting!

Lucy Cavendish Prize

The Lucy Cavendish website says:

“The shortlist spotlights standout unpublished voices shaping the future of fiction. ”

Lucy Cavendish

Lucy Cavendish was a reformer and pioneer of women’s education and empowerment. She has a Cambridge college named after her. The award in her name was established in 2010.

The shortlist

Arden Boshier — Mrs Webster
Love and abuse in the art scene of sixties London

D.A. Connors — The Skylark and the Blowfly
Northern Ireland, 1989: a 12-year-old papergirl investigates the disappearance of a young woman

Fiona Dignan — What the Body Remembers
Women reclaim their bodies across generations of violence and tradition

Virginia Hall — Meatlicker
Dark campus satire: naïve postgrad meets maverick professor, with steak

Anna Holdház — A Geography of Escape
An inter-generational ghost story spanning Hungary, London and Hawai’i

Dara Lutes — The Red Flag
A darkly comic psychological mystery about collective guilt and responsibility

The judges

The shortlist was selected by judges including broadcaster and writer Vogue Williams, novelist Ela Lee, Viking Publishing Director Harriet Bourton, College Assistant Professor and Director of Studies in English Dr Clare Walker Gore, and Emeritus Fellow Dr Isobel Maddison.

WME Agency, who is sponsoring the prize for a second year, took on six authors from 2025’s shortlist and longlist, including Ciara Broderick, whose debut literary thriller Catfish sold for six-figures to 4th Estate in a highly competitive auction and in deals around the world.

Previous shortlisted authors include Sara Collins (The Confessions of Frannie Langton)

The Confessions of Frannie Langton - Sara Collins