Interviews with the International Booker Prize 2025 longlistees

With Perfection shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025, we spoke to its author and translator about writing a book almost completely made of descriptions, and why translations aren’t next-best-things

With There’s a Monster Behind the Door longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025, we spoke to its author and translators about Cyrano de Bergerac, rap music and the books that changed their worldview

With Hunchback longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025, we spoke to its author and translator about the childhood books that inspired them, and how translated fiction can deliver something fresh

We spoke to Banu Mushtaq and Deepa Bhasthi, winners of the International Booker Prize 2025 for Heart Lamp, about the inspirations behind the book, and why translation is an instinctive practice

With Reservoir Bitches longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025, we spoke to its author and translators about Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes and their favourite Spanish-language authors

With Eurotrash longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025, we spoke to the author and translator about writing everything in one go, and their formative reading experiences

With Small Boat shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025, we spoke to its author and translator about suspending moral judgement, and the books that inspired their careers 

With The Book of Disappearance longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025, we spoke to its author and translator about Palestinian poetry, Charles Dickens and the dazzling richness of other cultures

With On the Calculation of Volume I shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025, we spoke to its author and translator about time-loop stories, classical Japanese prose and their favourite Booker-nominated books

With On a Woman’s Madness longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025, we spoke to the author and translator about songs, Psalms, mentors and memoirs

With Solenoid longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025, we spoke to its author and translator about how the book ‘wrote itself’, and the authors that have inspired them

With A Leopard-Skin Hat shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025, we spoke to its author and translator about Gide, Nabokov, and their favourite childhood reads

With Under the Eye of the Big Bird shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025, we spoke to its author and translator about haiku, Greek myths and books that are a joy to recommend