The International Booker Prize

The shortlist for the International Booker Prize 2025 has been announced, featuring six authors shortlisted for the first time

The International Booker Prize is the world's most influential award for translated fiction

The prize, which is awarded annually, celebrates the best works of long-form fiction or collections of short stories translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland. It recognises the vital work of translators, with the £50,000 prize money divided equally between authors and translators. In addition, shortlisted authors and translators each receive £2,500.

The 2025 judges are looking for the best work of long-form fiction or collection of short stories translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland between 1 May 2024 and 30 April 2025.

The 2025 shortlist of six books was announced on Tuesday, 8 April, with the winner to be announced at a ceremony at London’s Tate Modern on Tuesday, 20 May.

Previous winners of the International Booker Prize

Kairos

by Jenny Erpenbeck (prize winner)

Translated by Michael Hofmann

Time Shelter

by Georgi Gospodinov (prize winner)

Translated by Angela Rodel

Tomb of Sand

by Geetanjali Shree (prize winner)

Translated by Daisy Rockwell

At Night All Blood Is Black

by David Diop (prize winner)

Translated by Anna Moschovakis

The Discomfort of Evening

by Lucas Rijneveld (prize winner)

Translated by Michele Hutchison

Celestial Bodies

by Jokha Alharthi (prize winner)

Translated by Marilyn Booth

Flights

by Olga Tokarczuk (prize winner)

Translated by Jennifer Croft

A Horse Walks into a Bar

by David Grossman (prize winner)

Translated by Jessica Cohen

The Vegetarian

by Han Kang (prize winner)

Translated by Deborah Smith

The history of the International Booker Prize

The Booker Prizes exist to reward the finest in fiction. The symmetrical relationship between the Booker Prize and the International Booker Prize ensures that the Booker honours fiction on a global basis: world-class fiction is highlighted by the prizes for English-speaking readers, whether that work was originally written in English (the Booker Prize) or translated into English (the International Booker Prize).

The International Booker Prize began life in 2005 as the Man Booker International Prize. It was initially a biennial prize for a body of work, and there was no stipulation that the work should be written in a language other than English. Early winners of the Man Booker International Prize therefore include Alice Munro, Lydia Davis and Philip Roth, as well as Ismail Kadare and Laszlo Krasznahorkai.

In 2015, after the rules of the original Booker Prize expanded to allow writers of any nationality to enter – as long as their books were written in English and published in the UK – the International Prize evolved to become the mirror image of the English-language prize. Since then it has been awarded annually for a single book, written in another language and translated into English.

The Man Group continued to sponsor both prizes until 2019, when Crankstart became the funder, and the prize names reverted to the familiar ‘Booker’ name alone.

This prize aims to encourage more reading of quality fiction from all over the world, and has already had an impact on those statistics in the UK. Novels and collections of short stories are both eligible.