Princess Elizabeth reading a book in Buckingham Palace on July 19, 1946

The Big Jubilee Read: 21 Booker books to celebrate the reign of Queen Elizabeth II

In summer 2022, the Reading Agency and BBC Arts teamed up for the Big Jubilee Read - a list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, with 10 from each decade of the Queen’s reign. Below, find out more about the authors and books on the list who are part of the Booker family

The Big Jubilee Read campaign emphasised reading for pleasure, with one book chosen for each year of the Queen’s reign, featuring writers from across the Commonwealth.

Suzy Klein, head of arts and classical music TV at the BBC, said: ‘The list of 70 books is a real opportunity to discover stories from across continents and taking us through the decades, books that we might never have otherwise read, and reading authors whose work deserves a spotlight to be shone on it.’

There are 21 Booker Prize winning, shortlisted and longlisted novels on the list, and a total of 31 authors from the Booker family, including past judges as well as nominated writers.

Main photograph © Lisa Sheridan/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Read our features on the Big Jubilee Read authors

A still from Schindler's List showing a girl in a red coat

Thomas Keneally on how he wrote Schindler's Ark: 'I knew where the good stuff was'

Scene from the 2012 film Life of Pi, directed and produced by Ang Lee

Yann Martel on writing Life of Pi: 'You want a sense that it was written in one breath'

Why those who dismiss V.S. Naipaul as a defender of colonialism should take a closer look at his writing

How Keri Hulme’s The Bone People changed the way we read now

Anita Desai: 'I thought the book would seem ghostly now, but it's all coming around again'

The Big Jubilee Read books from the Booker Library

The Sea, the Sea

by Iris Murdoch (prize winner)

Clear Light of Day

by Anita Desai

Midnight's Children

by Salman Rushdie (prize winner)

Schindler's Ark

by Thomas Keneally (prize winner)

The Bone People

by Keri Hulme: winner of the 1985 Booker Prize (prize winner)

The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood

The Remains of the Day

by Kazuo Ishiguro (prize winner)

The English Patient

by Michael Ondaatje (prize winner)

The Stone Diaries

by Carol Shields

Paradise

by Abdulrazak Gurnah

A Fine Balance

by Rohinton Mistry

The God of Small Things

by Arundhati Roy (prize winner)

Disgrace

by J.M. Coetzee (prize winner)

Life of Pi

by Yann Martel (prize winner)

The Secret River

by Kate Grenville

Wolf Hall

by Hilary Mantel: two-time winner of the Booker Prize (prize winner)

The Luminaries

by Eleanor Catton (prize winner)

Girl, Woman, Other

by Bernardine Evaristo (prize winner)

Shuggie Bain

by Douglas Stuart (prize winner)

A Passage North

by Anuk Arudpragasam

The Promise

by Damon Galgut (prize winner)

Watch videos

The moment Damon Galgut wins the 2021 Booker Prize.

Booker Prize-shortlisted author Anuk Arudpragasm reads from ‘A Passage North’.

The 2019 Booker Prize ceremony, where the prize was shared by Bernardine Evaristo and Margaret Atwood.

Watch the full Channel 4 broadcast of the controversial 1985 Booker Prize ceremony, including interviews with the shortlisted authors and the deeply divided judges.