IBP 2025 longlist

Competition

Win a set of all 13 books from the International Booker Prize 2025 longlist

We’re offering you the chance to win one of five bundles made up of all 13 longlisted titles in contention for this year’s International Booker Prize

This competition has now closed.

Publication date and time: Published

To celebrate the announcement of the International Booker Prize 2025 longlist, we are giving you the chance to win a set of all 13 titles that are in contention for this year’s prize.

The list celebrates the best works of long-form fiction or collections of short stories translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland. 

‘As we searched for our longlist amongst the 154 books submitted, we marvelled at what the world was thinking,’ said Chair of judges Max Porter. ‘How are people making sense of these times using the novel as a vehicle for thought and feeling? And how are translators taking these books and – in English – making them sing or scream? The books on our unconventional longlist provide a wildly energising and surprising range of answers. We hope they will exhilarate and engage a worldwide community of readers,’ he added. 

To be in with a chance of winning one set of books, simply enter your details below by 12:00 GMT on Friday, March 28, 2025. This competition is open to readers anywhere in the world.

Entrants should note that some of the titles on the longlist have not yet been published in the UK. As a result, prize bundles may include bound proofs, and some books may be dispatched separately. 

Read more about the International Booker Prize 2025

IBP 2025 longlist

Terms and conditions

This competition is a free draw, with only one entry allowed per person, and we reserve the right to disqualify any entries where we suspect one person has used a number of different email addresses. Use or attempted use of any automated or other non-manual entry methods is prohibited.  

The draw is governed by our general rules for competitions, available here, but the following specifics also apply (and take precedence should there be any contradiction or ambiguity):

  • There will be five winners, selected at random from entries received before 12:00 GMT on Friday, March 28, 2025. Entries received after this time will not be eligible.  
  • Each winner will receive the 13 titles (as current UK editions or bound proofs) on the International Booker Prize 2025 longlist.
  • Entrants must be 18 or over, and we reserve the right to ask for proof of age at any point in the competition; prize-winners should be aware of adult themes within the longlisted titles, particularly if sharing it with other readers. 
  • The competition is open to those resident in or outside the UK subject to the proviso that an entry is not eligible if it is from a resident in a country or jurisdiction where this free draw may breach any local law or regulation.    
  • Winners will be notified by email no later than 12:00 BST (UK time) on Friday, April 7, 2025, and must promptly provide a fully operative postal address for delivery of their prize. If we have not received this within 7 days of us notifying a winner, we will have no obligation to deliver the prize and at our sole discretion, we may select a further winner to receive the prize concerned or simply decide not to give it.  
  • We can only undertake to do what is reasonable in all the circumstances to deliver the prize to a location outside the UK.
  • We cannot ship to PO Box addresses; winners are required to provide a bricks-and-mortar/physical address for prize(s) to be dispatched to. 
  • Bearing in mind, among other things, the value of the prize itself in relation to cost of delivery, we reserve the right (and this is determined at our sole discretion) to ask a winner to provide an alternative address for delivery to a person/location where the cost is proportionate.  
  • Winners are responsible for any taxes or duties they may have to pay in order to take receipt of their prize.  
  • While we will use our best endeavours to despatch prizes as soon as possible once all titles have been received from the publishers. No responsibility can be accepted for entries delayed or lost.
  • We are not responsible for any damage to the prize in the course of delivery; while we will consider a request for a replacement (if available) if the prize arrives in a seriously damaged state, this is solely in our discretion depending on the particular circumstances.
  • These terms and conditions are governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of England & Wales, and the courts of England & Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction in relation determining any question or issue in relation to them.
  • We may in due course and at our sole discretion publicise the names of the winners and their location (in general terms, not specific addresses) on our website and/or social media channels and by entering the competition an entrant agrees to this publicity should they be a prize-winner.

What our judges said about the longlist

The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem, translated from Arabic by Sinan Antoon

‘Speculative and haunting, this is an exceptional exercise in memory-making and psycho-geography. The premise – the overnight disappearance of all Palestinians – is audacious and shocking.’

On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle, translated from Danish by Barbara. J Haveland

‘It takes a familiar narrative trope – a protagonist inexplicably stuck in the same day – and transforms it into a profound meditation on love, connectedness and what it means to exist.’

There’s a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem, translated from French by Karen Fleetwood and Laëtitia Saint-Loubert  

‘In prose that throbs with verve, humour and pain, this story set on the island of Réunion brings to life a narrator beset with the history of her family and her people.’

Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu, translated from Romanian by Sean Cotter 

‘A mind-boggling and ceaselessly entertaining book that seems to be about everything. It transports us from Communist Romania to the far sci-fi reaches of the imagination.’ 

Reservoir Bitches by Dahlia de la Cerda, translated from Spanish by Heather Cleary and Julia Sanches 

‘A blisteringly urgent collection of interconnected stories about contemporary Mexican women. Extremely funny but deadly serious, it absolutely bangs from the first page to the last.’

Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix, translated from French by Helen Stevenson  

‘After 27 people die when their dinghy capsizes in the Channel, the book’s French narrator attempts to clear her conscience. A gut-punch of a novel that asks: could we all do better?’ 

Gaëlle Bélem

Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, translated from Japanese by Polly Barton 

‘Featuring a protagonist who lives in a care home near Tokyo, this unashamed, unflinching and subversive novel defiantly dismantles assumptions about disability and desire.’ 

Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami, translated from Japanese by Asa Yoneda 

‘With crystalline clarity, it tells the story of humanity’s evolution on an epic scale, travelling as far into the future as our imagination could possibly allow.’ 

Eurotrash by Christian Kracht, translated from German by Daniel Bowles 

‘The bitterly funny account of a writer driving his crotchety, senile mother through the landscape outside Zurich. One of the most entertaining and moving stories we read.’

Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, translated from Italian by Sophie Hughes 

‘An astute, cringe-making and often laugh-out-loud funny portrait of everyday privilege and modern aspirations, following an expat couple in Berlin. Startlingly refreshing.’ 

Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi  

‘Exploring the lives of those often on the periphery of society – girls and women in Muslim communities in southern India – these vivid stories hold immense emotional and moral weight.’ 

On a Woman’s Madness by Astrid Roemer, translated from Dutch by Lucy Scott 

‘A modern classic set in Suriname, and a testament to the resilience of queer lives everywhere. A story of love, survival and freedom, woven with an artistically accomplished touch.’ 

A Leopard-Skin Hat by Anne Serre, translated from French by Mark Hutchinson 

‘A deeply romantic yet platonic love story between the narrator and his complicated childhood friend, a story so beautifully realised that the pair become part of the life of the reader.’ 

Hiromi Kawakami