A New Prize for Women's Travel Writing Launches at Frankfurt
The Ilse Schwepcke Prize, a new annual award for the year's best English-language travel book written by a woman, launched today at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair. The inaugural winner will receive £5,000 in a ceremony at the 2025 fair.
The prize was set up by Barbara Schwepcke, with her uncle Karl-Burkhard Haus, in memory of her mother Ilse, a travel writing devotee, feminist, and founding editor of the Armchair Traveller series produced by Barbara’s company Haus Publishing, based in London. The Ilse Schwepcke Prize will also have a German-language sister prize, in honor of its namesake's dual U.K. and German roots.
The inaugural English-language prize will be judged by authors Helena Attle and Stephanie Yeboah and bookseller Arabella Friesen.
