The Booker Prize

The Booker Prize was established in 1969 to recognize the best original novel written in English and published in the UK or Ireland. Originally sponsored by the Booker Group, it became the Man Booker Prize in 2002 and later the Booker Prize again in 2019. The prize aims to celebrate literary excellence and bring outstanding fiction to a global audience.

Over the years, it has launched the careers of many writers and solidified the reputations of established authors. Since 2014, it has been open to any English-language novel published in the UK, regardless of nationality.

Notable winners include:

• Salman Rushdie (Midnight’s Children, 1981), a novel blending history and magical realism, which was later named the “Booker of Bookers.”
• Margaret Atwood (The Testaments, 2019), a co-winner that revisited The Handmaid’s Tale, sharing the prize with Bernardine Evaristo (Girl, Woman, Other), the first Black woman to win.
• Hilary Mantel (twice-winner for Wolf Hall, 2009, and Bring Up the Bodies, 2012), historical novels about Thomas Cromwell.

The Booker Prize remains a prestigious literary award, often influencing book sales and readership worldwide.