The Booker Prize 2025 Presents Its Shortlist

The Booker Prize 2025 shortlist

Autumn brings back the most prestigious literary awards into a spotlight. Although the final announcements are yet to come, selection of the most probable candidates is already on the way. The 2025 Booker Prize judging panel, led by the renowned writer and 1993 Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle, has selected a shortlist of six novels.

This year’s selection, chosen from 153 entries, highlights the finest long-form fiction by authors of any nationality, written in English and published in the UK and/or Ireland between 1 October 2024 and 30 September 2025. Five out of six shortlisted authors have published more than five books, two have more than 10, and one whose third book took 20 years to complete. The selection includes the previous Booker Prize-winner Kiran Desai, past shortlistees Andrew Miller and David Szalay, and three authors making their Booker Prize shortlist debut:

• Flesh by David Szalay

• The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller

• The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits

• Audition by Katie Kitamura

• The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai

• Flashlight by Susan Choi

Featuring both classic storytelling and novels that challenge narrative conventions, the shortlist delves into the bonds that unite families and the crises that can tear them apart. Characters navigate familiar domestic scenarios: shifts in power dynamics between parents and children, drifting marriages, families confronting their histories, and individuals fulfilling expected roles. These books transport readers from Hungary to Japan, Italy to the US, India to England, often featuring rootless characters far from their original homes. The narratives span different time frames: some unfold over days or weeks, while others span decades. 

The Booker Prize 2025 winner will be revealed at a ceremony in London on Monday, 10 November, with the winning author receiving £50,000.

Source: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/prize-years/2025