What is the Booker Prize, and are the winners good reads?
The Booker Prize, first awarded in 1969, is given each year to what its judges consider the best novel written in English and published in the UK or Ireland; it is worth £50,000. Winners range from page-turners to demanding literary novels, so the shortlist of six is often a better reading list than the winner alone. Approachable winners include The Remains of the Day, Life of Pi and Wolf Hall.
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Every autumn, a handful of novels suddenly appear in every bookshop window with a gold sticker on the front. That is the Booker effect. Here is how the prize works, and how to use it as a reader without feeling obliged to like everything it crowns.
How it works
The prize was first awarded in 1969, according to Wikipedia. It goes to the best single work of sustained fiction written in English and published in the UK or Ireland. Until 2014 it was open only to writers from the Commonwealth, Ireland and, at times, South Africa and Zimbabwe; since 2014, writers of any nationality have been eligible.
Each year:
- A panel of five judges is appointed by the Booker Prize Foundation.
- The longlist, usually twelve or thirteen books and nicknamed the "Booker Dozen", comes first.
- The shortlist narrows it to six.
- The winner receives £50,000. The announcement traditionally came in early October at a black-tie dinner; since 2020 the timing has varied.
The name has changed along the way: the Booker Prize for Fiction until 2001, the Man Booker Prize from 2002 to 2019, and simply the Booker Prize since.
Are the winners good reads?
Many are superb. Some are hard going. A few, in hindsight, seem like odd choices. That is the nature of a prize decided each year by a different small panel with its own tastes. Treat the winner as one strong opinion, not a promise that you will enjoy it.
The more useful habit is to treat the shortlist as a reading list. Six very different novels, chosen by serious readers, usually including at least one you would never have found on your own. Read the first pages of all six in a bookshop and buy the one that grabs you.
Four approachable winners
The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989). An English butler, Stevens, takes a motoring holiday in 1956 and looks back on his years in service at a great country house. Quiet, funny, heartbreaking, and a famous study in unreliable narration; see what an unreliable narrator is. Published in May 1989 and the winner that year, per Wikipedia.
Life of Pi, Yann Martel (2001). After a shipwreck in the Pacific, an Indian teenager, Pi Patel, survives 227 days in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger called Richard Parker. First published in 2001, it won in 2002, according to Wikipedia. A fable, an adventure and a puzzle in one.
Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel (2009). Thomas Cromwell's rise at the court of Henry VIII, told with such immediacy that a story you think you know becomes gripping. It won in 2009, and its sequel Bring Up the Bodies won again in 2012, per Wikipedia. Long, but it moves.
The Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes (2011). A short novel, around 160 pages in hardback, in which a retired man revisits his school friendships and discovers his memories are less reliable than he thought, as Wikipedia describes. Perfect for one weekend and one long argument afterwards.
How to use the prize as a reader
- Follow the longlist. It comes out well before the winner, so you can read along.
- Pick from the shortlist by first page, not by reputation.
- Go back in time. The list of past winners since 1969 is a ready-made reading list of modern fiction.
- Read against it. Use the prize as a starting point, then follow the threads to other books by the same authors.
For Italy's own equivalent, see what the Strega Prize is.
FAQ
Do Booker winners have to be literary fiction?
The rules speak only of sustained fiction written in English, though the four winners above give a fair idea of the prize's taste. For how those labels work, see literary vs genre fiction.
Has anyone won twice?
Yes. Hilary Mantel won for Wolf Hall and again for its sequel Bring Up the Bodies.
Are Booker winners good for book clubs?
Often very good, because they tend to be rich enough to discuss. See what makes a good book club pick.
Do I need to read the winner the year it wins?
Not at all. Many readers find past winners more rewarding, because time has already sorted the lasting ones from the merely topical.
Sources
Written by the Zestasy editors. General information for curious adults, not medical, nutrition or training advice.