The shortlist has been selected for the £4,000 (about $5,350) 2026 Wingate Literary Prize, honoring "the best book, fiction or nonfiction, to convey the idea of Jewishness to the general reader."
The shortlist:
The Einstein of Sex by Daniel Brook
Chopping Onions on My Heart by Samantha Ellis
City of Laughter by Temim Fruchter
Berlin Atomized by Julia Kornberg
Letters by Oliver Sacks, edited by Kate Edgar
The Gates of Gaza by Amir Tibon
Judges commented: "We were delighted with the variety and balance of our shortlist. Here are hidden histories, from the Iraqi Jewish community revealed in Chopping Onions on My Heart to the Weimar-era revolution depicted in The Einstein of Sex. Berlin Atomized transports us to the far future; The Gates of Gaza takes on the terrible divisions of the past and the conflicts of the present. City of Laughter remakes the family saga in a brand-new light; and Oliver Sacks' Letters offer insight into one remarkable man and the many worlds in which he lived. Fiction and non-fiction, there is huge range and richness here."