John Berger

John Berger was born in London and educated at St Edward's School, Oxford. In 1962, he left Britain permanently, to live in a small village in the French Alps

Berger began his career as a painter in the late 1940s. As well as being a novelist, he was also a broadcaster, philosopher, playwright, art critic, poet and self-styled ‘revolutionary writer’. Berger was the author of acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction, including the seminal Ways of Seeing (also a BBC television series) and the experimental novel G., which won the Booker Prize in 1972. Married three times, he died in 2017 at the age of 90.

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'I have to turn the prize against itself': John Berger's 1972 Booker Prize speech in full

John Berger’s decision to give away half of his £5,000 prize money in 1972 was one of the Booker’s most controversial moments. In this speech, delivered at the Café Royal in London after being announced as the winner, he set out the reasons behind his actions

John Berger and the 1972 Booker Prize controversy

In 1972, after winning the Booker Prize for his experimental novel G., John Berger shocked the literary establishment by giving away half of his prize money to the British Black Panther movement. Find out more about the book and the controversy here

Circular forms, Sun, Moon by Robert Delaunay

Anuk Arudpragasam on John Berger's G.

Anuk Arudpragasam, author of the 2021 Booker Prize-shortlisted A Passage North, on why he thinks John Berger’s 1972 Booker Prize-winning novel G. is ‘hugely impressive’.

John Berger presenting the BBC series Ways of Seeing

Watch our film, 'Seeing G.'

In ‘Seeing G.’, a new film to mark the 50th anniversary of John Berger’s Booker win, Jo Hamya revisits the prize’s most controversial moment, reveals what happened to Berger’s prize money and explores the legacy and impact of his 1972 novel