The International Booker Prize (formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize) is an international

literary award A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded Literature, literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award c ...

hosted in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

, as the Booker Prize was then known, was announced in June 2004. Sponsored by the

Man Group Man Group plc is an active investment management business listed on the London Stock Exchange. It provides investment funds in liquid and private markets for institutional and private investors. It is the world's largest publicly traded hedge f ...

, from 2005 until 2015 the award was given every two years to a living author of any nationality for a body of work published in English or generally available in English translation. It rewarded one author's "continued creativity, development and overall contribution to fiction on the world stage", and was a recognition of the writer's body of work rather than any one title. Since 2016, the award has been given annually to a single work of fiction or collection of short stories, translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland, with a £50,000 prize for the winning title, shared equally between author and translator. Crankstart, the

charitable foundation A foundation (also referred to as a charitable foundation) is a type of nonprofit organization or charitable trust that usually provides funding and support to other charitable organizations through grants, while also potentially participating d ...

of Sir Michael Moritz and his wife Harriet Heyman, began supporting The Booker Prizes on 1 June 2019. From this date, the prizes were known as The Booker Prize and The International Booker Prize. Of their support for The Booker Prize Foundation and the prizes, Moritz commented: "Neither of us can imagine a day where we don’t spend time reading a book. The Booker Prizes are ways of spreading the word about the insights, discoveries, pleasures and joy that spring from great fiction".

History

Pre-2016

Whereas the Man Booker Prize was open only to writers from the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

, Ireland, and Zimbabwe, the International Prize was open to all nationalities who had work available in English including translations. The award was worth £60,000 and given every two years to a living author's entire body of literature, similar to the Nobel Prize for Literature. The Man Booker International Prize also allowed for a separate award for translation. If applicable, the winning author could choose their translators to receive a prize sum of £15,000. The 2005 inaugural winner of the prize was Albanian writer Ismail Kadare. Praising its concerted judgement, the journalist Hephzibah Anderson noted that the Man Booker International Prize was "fast becoming the more significant award, appearing an ever more competent alternative to the Nobel".

2016 onwards

In July 2015 it was announced that the ''Independent'' Foreign Fiction Prize would be disbanded. The prize money from that award would be folded into the Man Booker International Prize, which would henceforth act similarly to the ''Independent'' prize: awarding an annual book of fiction translated into English, with the £50,000 prize split between author and translator. Each shortlisted author and translator receives £2,500. Its aim is to encourage publishing and reading of quality works in translation and to highlight the work of translators. Judges select a long list of 12 or 13 books in March ("the Booker Dozen"), followed by a shortlist of six in April, with the winner announced in May.

Nominations 2005–2015

2005

The inaugural Man Booker International Prize was judged by John Carey (Chair),

Alberto Manguel Alberto Manguel (born March 13, 1948, in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine Canadian, Argentine-Canadian anthologist, translator, essayist, novelist, editor, and a former director of the National Library of Argentina. He is a cosmopolitan and polyglo ...

and Azar Nafisi. The nominees were announced on 2 June 2005 at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

in Washington, D.C. Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare was named the inaugural International Prize winner in 2005. Head judge, Professor John Carey said Kadare is "a universal writer in the tradition of storytelling that goes back to Homer." Kadare said he was "deeply honoured" at being awarded the prize. Kadare was also able to select a translator to receive an additional prize of £15,000. The writer received his award in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

on 27 June. ;Winner * Ismail Kadare ;Nominees *

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...

(Canada) *

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; June 10, 1915April 5, 2005) was a Canadian-American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only write ...

(US) * Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia) *

Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Danzig (now Gda ...

(Germany) * Ismail Kadare (Albania) *

Milan Kundera Milan Kundera ( ; ; 1 April 1929 – 11 July 2023) was a Czech and French novelist. Kundera went into exile in France in 1975, acquiring citizenship in 1981. His Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, but he was granted Czech citizenship ...

(Czech Republic) * Stanisław Lem (Poland) * Doris Lessing (UK) * Ian McEwan (UK) * Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) * Tomás Eloy Martínez (Argentina) * Kenzaburō Ōe (Japan) * Cynthia Ozick (US) * Philip Roth (US) * Muriel Spark (UK) * Antonio Tabucchi (Italy) *

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth Tar ...

(US) * A. B. Yehoshua (Israel)

2007

The 2007 prize was judged by Elaine Showalter, Nadine Gordimer and Colm Tóibín. The nominees for the second Man Booker International Prize were announced on 12 April 2007 at Massey College in Toronto. Nigerian author Chinua Achebe was awarded the International Prize for his literary career in 2007. Judge Nadine Gordimer said Achebe was "the father of modern African literature" and that he was "integral" to world literature. Achebe received his award on 28 June in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. ;Winner * Chinua Achebe ;Nominees * Chinua Achebe (Nigeria) *

(Canada) *

John Banville William John Banville (born 8 December 1945) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, Literary adaptation, adapter of dramas and screenwriter. Though he has been described as "the heir to Marcel Proust, Proust, via Vladimir Nabokov, Nabokov", ...

(Ireland) * Peter Carey (Australia) *

Don DeLillo Donald Richard DeLillo (born November 20, 1936) is an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, screenwriter, and essayist. His works have covered subjects as diverse as consumerism, nuclear war, the complexities of language, art, televi ...

(US) * Carlos Fuentes (Mexico) * Doris Lessing (UK) * Ian McEwan (UK) * Harry Mulisch (Netherlands) * Alice Munro (Canada) *

Michael Ondaatje Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer and essayist. Ondaatje's literary career began with his poetry in 1967, publishing ''The Dainty Monsters'', and then in 1970 the critically a ...

(Sri Lanka/Canada) * Amos Oz (Israel) * Philip Roth (US) *

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

(India/UK) * Michel Tournier (France)

2009

The 2009 prize was judged by Jane Smiley (Chair), Amit Chaudhuri and Andrey Kurkov. The nominees for the third Man Booker International Prize were announced on 18 March 2009 at The New York Public Library. Canadian short story writer Munro was named the winner of the prize in 2009 for her lifetime body of work. Judge Jane Smiley said picking a winner had been "a challenge", but Munro had won the panel over. On Munro's work, Smiley said "Her work is practically perfect. Any writer has to gawk when reading her because her work is very subtle and precise. Her thoughtfulness about every subject is so concentrated." Munro, who said she was "totally amazed and delighted" at her win, received the award at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

on 25 June. ;Winner * Alice Munro ;Nominees * Peter Carey (Australia) * Evan S. Connell (US) * Mahasweta Devi (India) * E. L. Doctorow (US) * James Kelman (UK) * Arnošt Lustig (Czech Republic) * Alice Munro (Canada) * V. S. Naipaul (Trinidad/UK) *

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (; born James Ngugi; 5January 193828May 2025) was a Kenyan author and academic, who has been described as East Africa's leading novelist and an important figure in modern African literature. Ngũgĩ wrote primarily in Eng ...

(Kenya) *

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels ''Black ...

(US) * Antonio Tabucchi (Italy) * Dubravka Ugrešić (Croatia) * Lyudmila Ulitskaya (Russia) *

Mario Vargas Llosa Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (28 March 1936 – 13 April 2025) was a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and politician. Vargas Llosa was one of the most significant Latin American novelists and essayists a ...

(Peru)

2011

The 2011 prize was judged by Rick Gekoski (Chair), Carmen Callil (withdrew in protest over choice of winner) and Justin Cartwright. The nominees for the fourth Man Booker International Prize were announced on 30 March 2011 at a ceremony in Sydney, Australia. John le Carré asked to be removed from consideration, saying he was "flattered", but that he does not compete for literary prizes. However, judge Rick Gekoski said although he was disappointed that le Carré wanted to withdraw, his name would remain on the list. American novelist Roth was announced as the winner on 18 May 2011 at the Sydney Writers' Festival. Of his win, Roth said "This is a great honour and I'm delighted to receive it." The writer said he hoped the prize would bring him to the attention of readers around the world who are not currently familiar with his body of work. Roth received his award in London on 28 June; however, he was unable to attend in person due to ill health, so he sent a short video instead. After Roth was announced as the winner, Carmen Callil withdrew from the judging panel, saying "I don't rate him as a writer at all... in 20 years' time will anyone read him?" Callil later wrote an editorial in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' explaining her position and why she chose to leave the panel. ;Winner * Philip Roth ;Nominees * Juan Goytisolo (Spain) * James Kelman (UK) * John le Carré (UK) * Amin Maalouf (Lebanon) *

David Malouf David George Joseph Malouf (; born 20 March 1934) is an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and Libretto, librettist. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2008, Malouf has lectured at both the University ...

(Australia) * Dacia Maraini (Italy) * Rohinton Mistry (India/Canada) * Philip Pullman (UK) *

Marilynne Robinson Marilynne Summers Robinson (born November 26, 1943) is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and th ...

(US) * Philip Roth (US) * Su Tong (China) * Wang Anyi (China) * Anne Tyler (US)

2013

The 2013 prize was judged by

Christopher Ricks Sir Christopher Bruce Ricks (born 18 September 1933) is a British literary critic and scholar. He is the William M. and Sara B. Warren Professor of the Humanities at Boston University (US), co-director of the Editorial Institute at Boston ...

(Chair), Elif Batuman, Aminatta Forna, Yiyun Li and Tim Parks. The nominees for the fifth Man Booker International Prize were announced on 24 January 2013. Marilynne Robinson was the only writer out of the ten nominees who had been nominated for the prize before. Lydia Davis, best known as a short story writer, was announced as the winner of the 2013 prize on 22 May at a ceremony at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The official announcement of Davis' award on the Man Booker Prize website described her work as having "the brevity and precision of poetry." Judging panel chair Christopher Ricks commented that "There is vigilance to her stories, and great imaginative attention. Vigilance as how to realise things down to the very word or syllable; vigilance as to everybody's impure motives and illusions of feeling." ;Winner * Lydia Davis ;Nominees * U R Ananthamurthy (India) * Aharon Appelfeld (Israel) * Lydia Davis (US) * Intizar Hussain (Pakistan) * Marie NDiaye (France) * Josip Novakovich (Croatia/United States) *

(United States) * Vladimir Sorokin (Russia) * Peter Stamm (Switzerland) * Yan Lianke (China)

2015

The 2015 prize was judged by Marina Warner (Chair), Nadeem Aslam, Elleke Boehmer, Edwin Frank and Wen-chin Ouyang. The nominees for the sixth Man Booker International Prize were announced on 24 March 2015. László Krasznahorkai became the first author from

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

to receive the Man Booker award. The prize was given to recognise his "achievement in fiction on the world stage".

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

author Marina Warner, who chaired the panel of judges that selected Krasznahorkai for the award, compared his writing to Kafka and Beckett. Krasznahorkai's translators, George Szirtes and Ottilie Mulzet, shared the £15,000 translators' prize. ;Winner * László Krasznahorkai ;Nominees * César Aira (Argentina) * Ibrahim al-Koni (Libya) * Hoda Barakat (Lebanon) * Maryse Condé (Guadeloupe) * Mia Couto (Mozambique) * Amitav Ghosh (India) * Fanny Howe (United States) * László Krasznahorkai (Hungary) * Alain Mabanckou (Republic of the Congo) * Marlene van Niekerk (South Africa)

Nominations 2016–present

The chair of each year's judging panel is shown in bold text.

2016

The nominees for the seventh Man Booker International Prize were announced on 14 April 2016. The six nominees were chosen from a longlist of thirteen. Han became the first Korean author to win the prize and, under the new format for 2016, Smith became the first translator to share the prize. British journalist Boyd Tonkin, who chaired the judging panel, said that the decision was unanimous. He also said of the book "in a style both lyrical and lacerating, it reveals the impact of this great refusal both on the heroine herself and on those around her. This compact, exquisite and disturbing book will linger long in the minds, and maybe the dreams, of its readers."

2017

The longlist for the eighth Man Booker International Prize was announced on 14 March 2017, and the shortlist on 20 April 2017. The winner was announced on 14 June 2017. Grossman became the first Israeli author to win the prize, sharing the £50,000 award with translator Jessica Cohen. Nick Barley, who is the director of the

Edinburgh International Book Festival The Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) is a book festival that takes place during two weeks in August every year in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. Described as ''The largest festival of its kind in the world'', the festival hosts ...

, described the book as "an ambitious high-wire act of a novel

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

shines a spotlight on the effects of grief, without any hint of sentimentality. The central character is challenging and flawed, but completely compelling." The novel won over 126 other contenders.

2018

The longlist for the ninth Man Booker International Prize was announced on 12 March 2018. The shortlist of six books was announced on 12 April 2018 at an event at Somerset House in London. The winner was announced on 22 May 2018 at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Tokarczuk is the first Polish author to win the award, and shared the prize with Croft. Lisa Appignanesi described Tokarczuk as a "writer of wonderful wit, imagination, and literary panache."

2019

The longlist for the Man Booker International Prize was announced on 13 March 2019. The shortlist was announced on 9 April 2019. The winner was announced on 21 May 2019; Jokha Alharthi is the first author writing in Arabic to have won the Man Booker International Prize. Bettany Hughes said of ''Celestial Bodies'' that, "We felt we were getting access to ideas and thoughts and experiences you aren’t normally given in English. It avoids every stereotype you might expect in its analysis of gender and race and social distinction and slavery."

2020

The longlist for the prize was announced on 27 February 2020. The shortlist was announced 2 April 2020. The winner announcement was originally planned for 19 May 2020, however due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

it was postponed to 26 August 2020.

2021

The longlist was announced on 30 March 2021, the shortlist on 22 April, and the winning author and translator on 2 June 2021.

2022

The longlist was announced on 10 March 2022; the shortlist on 7 April 2022 and the winner on 26 May 2022. '' Tomb of Sand'' is the first Hindi-language novel to receive a nomination, and the first novel in an Indian language to win the International Booker Prize.

2023

The longlist was announced on 14 March 2023, the shortlist on 18 April 2023, and the winner on 23 May 2023. Gospodinov's ''Time Shelter'' is the first Bulgarian-language book to have won the prize.

2024

The longlist was announced on 11 March 2024, the shortlist on 9 April 2024, and the winner on 21 May 2024, at a ceremony at

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

in London, sponsored by Maison Valentino. The judging panel for this year's prize is chaired by Canadian writer and broadcaster Eleanor Wachtel, and consists of Mojave American poet Natalie Diaz, Sri Lankan British novelist Romesh Gunesekera, South African artist William Kentridge, and American writer, editor and translator Aaron Robertson. On choosing the six shortlisted books, Eleanor Wachtel said, "Our shortlist, while implicitly optimistic, engages with current realities of racism and oppression, global violence and ecological disaster." The winner was Jenny Erpenbeck for her novel ''

Kairos ''Kairos'' () is an ancient Greek language, Greek word meaning 'the right or critical moment'. In modern Greek, ''kairos'' also means 'weather' or 'time'. It is one of two words that the ancient Greeks had for 'time'; the other being (). ...

'', translated from the German by Michael Hofmann. The judges' decision marked the first occasion the prize was won by either a German writer or a male translator.

2025

The longlist was announced on 25 February 2025 and the shortlist was published on 8 April 2025. The judging panel was chaired by English writer Max Porter and also consisted of Nigerian poet, director and photographer Caleb Femi, writer and publishing director of '' Wasafiri'' Sana Goyal, South Korean writer and translator Anton Hur, and English singer-songwriter Beth Orton. The winner, Banu Mushtaq's '' Heart Lamp: Selected Stories'', was announced on 20 May 2025. All 13 writers on the longlist were first-time nominees. The works selected for 2025 included several other firsts: the prize's first nominated translation from

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

(''Heart Lamp''); the first nomination of a Romanian author ( Cărtărescu); and the first nomination for an Iraqi translator ( Antoon). Translator Sophie Hughes appeared on the longlist for a record fifth time and on the shortlist for a record third time. Deepa Bhasthi was the first Indian translator to win the award.

References

External links

Official website
*
Booker Prizes archive webpage
{{International Booker Prize 2005 establishments in the United Kingdom Awards established in 2005 International literary awards British fiction awards Translation awards International English-language literary awards