The Booker Prize Foundation has worked with RNIB for over 20 years to help ensure blind and partially sighted people in the UK have access to the world’s best fiction

Books aren’t automatically produced in alternative reading formats such as audio or braille, which means people with sight loss often have to wait longer to get hold of the latest fiction.

Since 2004, we have worked with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) to make sure that Booker Prize shortlisted books and the International Booker Prize winning title are produced in audio and braille formats, as close to each year’s winner announcement as possible. 

We support RNIB to acquire or produce audio and braille editions of shortlisted and winning books, making them available to over 70,000 members who are signed up with the RNIB Library.

RNIB’s library is the largest in the UK for people with sight loss. It’s a free service, run without government financial support, which relies on donations, legacies and sponsorship.

Since our collaboration began, audio editions of Booker Prize titles shortlisted between 2004-2025 have been loaned out 77,790 times from the RNIB Library.

This long‑standing partnership showcases what’s possible when publishers, prize organisations and accessibility experts work together to put inclusion at the heart of reading

— James Bartlett, RNIB’s Reading Services Manager

How it works

When the Booker Prize longlist is announced in the summer, RNIB’s Reading Services team begins acquiring existing commercial audiobooks, and asking publishers to consider producing their own audio if none is currently available.

As soon as the shortlist is announced in the autumn, pdfs of all six books are sent to RNIB’s braille transcription team. If audio isn’t available for any of the titles, the RNIB studio swings into action, casting voice actors and recording the texts in-house. 

The RNIB transcription and recording studio teams work through the shortlist as quickly as possible. The aim is to make sure audio and braille editions of the Booker Prize shortlist are available in RNIB’s library by the time the winner is announced. The same process is carried out for the International Booker Prize winner in May.

James Bartlett, RNIB’s Reading Services Manager, said: 

‘RNIB takes real pride in our work with the Booker Prizes and it’s a privilege to be able to make these hugely popular works into accessible formats that can be read and enjoyed at the same time as their print counterparts. 

‘For blind and partially sighted people timely access to the Booker Prize shortlist and the International Booker Prize winner means being part of the national conversation around books, culture and ideas. 

‘This long‑standing partnership helps ensure that people with sight loss don’t have to wait months to enjoy the world’s best fiction, and it showcases what’s possible when publishers, prize organisations and accessibility experts work together to put inclusion at the heart of reading.’