July 30th 2026 in News

The 2026 Cundill History Prize Longlist

Name: Designed by Here, Developer: Adam Menczykowski of You I Limited.
Price range: $

The world’s leading prize for a work of history written or translated into English, the Cundill History Prize, has announced its longlist of fifteen books for 2026, chosen from almost 400 submissions from across the world.

Following in the footsteps of recent Cundill History Prize winners, Lyndal Roper (2025) who was announced as 2026 Holberg Prize Laureate earlier this year, Pulitzer Prize winner Kathleen DuVal (2024) and Guardian journalist Tania Branigan (2023), the fifteen longlisted authors will now be in the running for the US$75,000 prize. The Cundill History Prize is awarded annually to a book that demonstrates excellence across the prize’s guiding criteria: craft, communication, and consequence.

The books on this year’s longlist introduce us to topics from across the globe, spanning continents and generations, from the history of the five partitions that shaped modern South Asia to the legacy of the Magdalene laundries in Ireland, from post-Second World War colonial Africa to the hidden story of Indigenous slavery in US history.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Timothy Brook, Emeritus Professor at the University of British Columbia, has stepped down as Chair of the Jury. Emily Greenwood, James F. Rothenberg Professor of Classics at Harvard University, has stepped up from her role as a member of the Jury to become Chair of the 2026 Cundill History Prize Jury.

Chair of the Jury Emily Greenwood, James F. Rothenberg Professor of Classics at Harvard University, said: “We are always in history but not always conscious of it. The best analytical and interpretative historical works reveal the past to us in staggering, new ways. Not only do the fifteen works on this year’s longlist recover history through fresh archival research, but they also offer new lines of sight on matters that continue to weigh heavily on us in the present.

“Ranging from the late fourth century CE to the present day, these books address topics including the theft of Indigenous land and people, the geopolitical upheaval of partitions, Jewish history and the shifting nature of anti-Judaism and antisemitism, the history of racial laws and immigration in America, autocracy and leadership cults, the party machinery of communism, the delicate dynamics of international diplomacy, passive collusion on the part of entire societies, the amendment of constitutions, colonial looting and post-colonial restitution, and the complex agency of plants—in this case vanilla—in the modern history of human consumption. Some of these works revise seemingly settled histories: the Africanness of St. Augustine; how to tell the history of Mexico; and new understandings of past dreams of liberation, from lost artworks of the American revolution to visions of Pan-Africanism.”

On becoming Chair of the Jury, Greenwood commented: “It’s a pure, intellectual joy to get to discuss the entries for this year’s Cundill History Prize in such brilliant company. My fellow jurors span diverse and immense areas of historical research and have made their own distinguished and impactful contributions to the fields of history, journalism, and literature. I’m honoured to chair this year’s jury and am enjoying the team effort of our deliberations.”

For the latest news and updates, please follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

For all media enquiries, please contact Hannah Cronnin (hannahc@fmcm.co.uk) or Ned Green (nedg@fmcm.co.uk) at FMcM Associates.