The shortlist for the Gordon Burn Prize 2025 was announced today (23 January 2025).
This year the shortlist is dominated by female authors with all bar one of the six shortlisted books being written by women. The following six books are on the shortlist:
- Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel (Daunt Originals)
- Ootlin by Jenni Fagan (Hutchinson Heinemann)
- Mrs Jekyll by Emma Glass (CHEERIO)
- Poor Artists by Gabrielle de la Puente and Zarina Muhammad (The White Pube) (Particular Books)
- Only Here, Only Now by Tom Newlands (Phoenix)
- The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trail of Ghislaine Maxwell by Lucia Osborne-Crowley (4th Estate)
The Gordon Burn Prize recognises exceptional writing which has an unconventional perspective, style or subject matter and often defies easy categorisation. It celebrates literary outliers and daring and experimental work that often speaks to broader societal issues.
The shortlist covers fiction, non-fiction, and memoir. It comprises: a visceral novel centred around a fictional boxing tournament for teenage girls (Headshot): a deeply harrowing account of growing up in the care system (Ootlin): a gothic story on modern womanhood and grief (Mrs Jekyll): an eye-opening insight into the contemporary art world (Poor Artists): a coming-of-age novel set in a forgotten corner of Scotland (Only Here, Only Now): and an account of Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial for her role in Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse and trafficking of girls (The Lasting Harm).