Julia Gillard and Thangam Debbonaire live at Hay Festival

2026-06-03

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In this special episode recorded live at the 2026 Hay Festival in Wales, Julia Gillard sits down with Thangam Debbonaire to discuss their roles as judges for this year’s Women Prize.Julia is chairing the judging panel for the Women's Prize for Fiction, while Thangam is the chair of judges for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction.In this entertaining conversation the pair take listeners behind the scenes of judging one of the world’s most prestigious literary prizes. The prizes are awarded annually to a femal...

In this special episode recorded live at the 2026 Hay Festival in Wales, Julia Gillard sits down with Thangam Debbonaire to discuss their roles as judges for this year’s Women Prize.

Julia is chairing the judging panel for the Women's Prize for Fiction, while Thangam is the chair of judges for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction.

In this entertaining conversation the pair take listeners behind the scenes of judging one of the world’s most prestigious literary prizes.

The prizes are awarded annually to a female author of any nationality for the best novel and non-fiction book of the year written in English and published in the UK.

Julia and Thangam talk about the rigours of reading dozens of books in a short time frame, heated debates amongst judges and the exceptional books on each shortlist.

The winners will be announced in London on June 11.

Show notes:

To learn more about the Women’s Prize and the books on the long and shortlists visit https://womensprize.com/

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