International Booker Prize

History

Pre-2016

Whereas the Man Booker Prize was open only to writers from the Commonwealth, 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. 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 and Azar Nafisi. The nominees were announced on 2 June 2005 at Georgetown University 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 on 27 June. ;Winner

• Ismail Kadare

;Nominees

• Margaret Atwood (Canada)
• Saul Bellow (US)
• Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia)
• Günter Grass (Germany)
• Ismail Kadare (Albania)
• Milan Kundera (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 (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. ;Winner

• Chinua Achebe

;Nominees

• Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)
• Margaret Atwood (Canada)
• John Banville (Ireland)
• Peter Carey (Australia)
• Don DeLillo (US)
• Carlos Fuentes (Mexico)
• Doris Lessing (UK)
• Ian McEwan (UK)
• Harry Mulisch (Netherlands)
• Alice Munro (Canada)
• Michael Ondaatje (Sri Lanka/Canada)
• Amos Oz (Israel)
• Philip Roth (US)
• Salman Rushdie (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 Alice 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 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 (Kenya)
• Joyce Carol Oates (US)
• Antonio Tabucchi (Italy)
• Dubravka Ugrešić (Croatia)
• Lyudmila Ulitskaya (Russia)
• Mario Vargas Llosa (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 Philip 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 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 (Australia)
• Dacia Maraini (Italy)
• Rohinton Mistry (India/Canada)
• Philip Pullman (UK)
• Marilynne Robinson (US)
• Philip Roth (US)
• Su Tong (China)
• Wang Anyi (China)
• Anne Tyler (US)

2013

The 2013 prize was judged by Christopher Ricks (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 in London. 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)
• Marilynne Robinson (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 to receive the Man Booker award. The prize was given to recognise his "achievement in fiction on the world stage". British 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 Kang 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. David 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, described the book as "an ambitious high-wire act of a novel [that] 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. Olga Tokarczuk is the first Polish author to win the award, and shared the prize with translator Jennifer 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 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.

2023

The longlist was announced on 14 March 2023, the shortlist on 18 April 2023,

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 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, 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 (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.

References

References

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