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„Die Frau als Mensch“ is non-fiction book of the year 2025

The winner of the German Non-Fiction Prize 2025 is Ulli Lust, for her work “Die Frau als Mensch. Am Anfang der Geschichte” (“Woman as Human. At the Dawn of History”) (Reprodukt).

Statement from the jury: 

“The strong woman as a human being. In her informed and imaginative non-fiction book on the origins of humanity – between evolution and culture – Ulli Lust reveals how the role of women in human history has remained largely invisible. A fundamental revision of the long-dominant image of “man as mankind” is overdue, as this book demonstrates through its unique interweaving of scholarly insights from archaeology, anthropology, and art history, continually inspired by everyday experiences. With this multi-layered approach, Lust succeeds in breaking open long-held assumptions – including those about the genre of non-fiction itself, which she expands in the most beautiful way through her virtuoso combination of image and text.”

The members of the jury for the German Non-Fiction Prize 2025: 

• Michael Hagner (ETH Zürich)
• Christiane Hoffmann (author)
• Michael Lemling (“Buchhandlung Lehmkuhl” bookshop)
• Manuela Lenzen (science journalist)
• Patricia Rahemipour (Institute for Museum Research, Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation)
• Heike Schmoll (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
• Katrin Vohland (Natural History Museum Vienna)

The following books were also nominated for the award:

• Ingo Dachwitz & Sven Hilbig: Digitaler Kolonialismus (C.H.Beck)
• Aladin El-Mafaalani, Sebastian Kurtenbach & Klaus Peter Strohmeier: Kinder – Minderheit ohne Schutz (Kiepenheuer & Witsch)
• Franz-Stefan Gady: Die Rückkehr des Krieges (Quadriga)
• Ines Geipel: Fabelland (S. Fischer), August 2024
• Martina Heßler: Sisyphos im Maschinenraum (C.H.Beck)
• Walburga Hülk: Victor Hugo (Matthes & Seitz Berlin)
• Bernhard Kegel: Mit Pflanzen die Welt retten (DuMont)

About the German Non-Fiction Prize

The German Non-Fiction Prize is awarded by the Stiftung Buchkultur und Leseförderung des Börsenvereins des Deutschen Buchhandels (Foundation for Book Culture and the Promotion of Reading of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association) in recognition of an outstanding original German-language non-fiction book that inspires social debate. 

The Deutsche Bank Stiftung (Deutsche Bank Foundation) is the main supporter of the prize, which is also backed by the City of Hamburg and Frankfurter Buchmesse. The cultural programme “aspekte” on ZDF and Deutschlandfunk Kultur are media partners of the prize.