Overview
- How to End a Story: Collected Diaries was the unanimous choice of all six judges, who called the book remarkable and addictive.
- Garner receives £50,000, with £5,000 awarded to each of the other five shortlisted authors from a field of more than 350 eligible titles published between November 2024 and October 2025.
- It is the first diary collection to win the prize since its founding in 1999, spanning roughly 1978–1998 and including a frank account of a marriage’s collapse.
- Garner accepted the award via video link from Melbourne as renewed international attention grows around her work, including endorsements from singer Dua Lipa.
- Prize director Toby Mundy disclosed a potential conflict of interest involving a judge whose daughter acquired the UK edition, noting the judge offered to recuse and that the outcome was unaffected.