In this shortlist episode, our podcast host, Razia Iqbal, is joined by judges Dr Xand van Tulleken and Dr Myriam Francois to discuss the six chosen titles and how reading such a volume of different books is both challenging and enlightening. Iqbal also speaks with book blogger Olive Fellows about her reading initiative Non-Fiction November. Four of the six titles bring women’s lives to the forefront and two books highlight major twentieth century figures. The shortlist spans history, current affairs, mystery, art and ideology. The six titles on this year’s shortlist are: • Furious Hours, Casey Cep (William Heinemann) • On Chapel Sands, Laura Cumming (Chatto & Windus) • The Lives of Lucian Freud: Youth, William Feaver (Bloomsbury Publishing) • Maoism: A Global History, Julia Lovell (Vintage) • Guest House for Young Widows, Azadeh Moaveni (Scribe UK) • The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper, Hallie Rubenhold (Doubleday) The 21st winner of the prize will be announced on 19 November at a dinner generously hosted by The Blavatnik Family Foundation, who also support the podcast. You can watch the announcement on our Facebook livestream.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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