Rozie Kelly has been included on the shortlist for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction for her debut novel Kingfisher (Saraband).
Rozie was shortlisted for the PFD Queer Fiction Prize 2023 and was one of eight participants in the inaugural Prototype Development Programme 2024. After reading English Literature and Creative Writing at Warwick and Manchester she moved to Hebden Bridge, where she works for the Arvon Foundation, hosting creative writing courses.
Julia Gillard, Chair of Judges and former Prime Minister of Australia, said: ‘We are delighted to present a shortlist that doesn’t shy away from examining life’s challenges, but also brings many moments of joy. As judges, we are first and foremost readers, and these novels intrigued and profoundly moved us.’
‘The significance and experience of fiction is highly subjective and personal, but we can share in its undeniable power to hold up a lens to the realities of our world, and to connect with ourselves and each other,’ said Claire Shanahan, Executive Director of the Women’s Prize Trust. ‘We’re proud to present this delicious shortlist of excellent, original and accessible novels to readers around the world, to delve into, to enjoy and discuss.
The Trust described Kingfisher as ‘deeply personal and introspective. Encountering a rapidly destabilised status quo and attempting to regain control is central to Rozie Kelly’s work. . . Kingfisher subverts the relationship power-dynamic we frequently see, instead centring the perspective of a young queer male creative writing professor and his infatuation with a lauded older female poet colleague. This is a debut meditation that grapples with understanding and acting on our position and power – through gender, age, rank, sexuality, health – as we progress through life and are faced with grief, desire, our search for identity, the brutality and tenderness of love, and the consequences when we fall short.’
The judging panel is rounded out by poet, novelist and essayist, Mona Arshi, author, presenter, poet and speaker, Salma El-Wardany, writer, podcaster, actor and comedian, Cariad Lloyd, and author, broadcaster and DJ, Annie Macmanus. The shortlist also includes novels by Susan Choi, Addie E. Citchens, Virginia Evans, Marcia Hutchinson and Lily King.
The winner of the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction will be revealed on 11 June at the Women’s Prize Trust’s summer party in Bedford Square Gardens, London, and will receive £30,000, along with the famous ‘Bessie’ statuette.