Books

The Booker Prize winners

When it began in 1969, the goal of the Booker Prize was to increase readership of quality fiction by celebrating and promoting the best books of the year. Originally called the Man Booker Prize, it is one of the most prestigious awards in the book world. The winners enjoy a huge sales boost and some titles have become classics. Winning authors include Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwan, Michael Ondaatje and Kingsley Amis. Big hitters Peter Carey, Hilary Mantel and J.M. Coetzee have multiple Booker victories.

The annual £50,000 prize is granted to the best novel originally written in English and published in the UK in the year of the prize, regardless of the nationality of the author. Until 2013, only writers from Commonwealth countries were eligible to win. The winner is selected by a rotating panel of judges who pare a long list of about a dozen down to six, then one. It's not an easy task - three times, in 2019, 1992, and 1974, the judges declared a draw and selected two winners.

Author Graham Swift, winner of the 1996 Booker for Last Orders, said, "Prizes don't make writers and writers don't write to win prizes, but in the near-glut of literary awards now on offer, the Booker remains special. It's the one which, if we're completely honest, we most covet."

The 2022 winner of the Booker Prize is Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka for The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. Karunatilaka’s second novel tells the story of a photographer who wakes up dead in the afterlife. The novel is part supernatural, part political, and offers an insight into Sri Lanka's civil war.

Explore the winning books since 1969 - from P.H. Newby to 2022 winner Shehan Karunatilaka.

Booker Prize-winning books

By Shehan Karunatilaka
2022
By Damon Galgut
2021
By Douglas Stuart
2020
By Bernadine Evaristo
2019 (tie)
By Margaret Atwood
2019 (tie)
By Anna Burns
2018
By George Saunders
2017
By Paul Beatty
2016
By Richard Flanagan
2014
By Eleanor Catton
2013
By Hilary Mantel
2012
By Julian Barnes
2011
By Howard Jacobson
2010
By Hilary Mantel
2009
By Aravind Adiga
2008
By Anne Enright
2007
By Kiran Desai
2006
By John Banville
2005
By Alan Hollinghurst
2004
By DBC Pierre
2003
By Yann Patel
2002
By Margaret Atwood
2000
By J.M. Coetzee
1999
By Ian McEwan
1998
By Arundhati Roy
1997
By Graham Swift
1996
By Pat Barker
1995
By James Kelman
1994
By Roddy Doyle
1993
By Michael Ondaatje
1992 (tie)
By Barry Unsworth
1992 (tie)
By Ben Okri
1991
By A.S. Byatt
1990
By Kazuo Ishiguro
1989
By Peter Carey
1988
By Penelope Lively
1987
By Kingsley Amis
1986
By Keri Hulme
1985
By Anita Brookner
1984
By J.M. Coetzee
1983
By Thomas Keneally
1982
By Salman Rushdie
1981
By William Golding
1980
By Penelope Fitzgerald
1979
By Iris Murdoch
1978
By Paul Scott
1977
By David Storey
1976
By Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
1975
By Nadine Gordimer
1974 (tie)
By Stanley Middleton
1974 (tie)
By J.G. Farrell
1973
G.
By John Berger
1972
By V.S. Naipaul
1971
By Bernice Rubens
1970
By P.H. Newby
1969

Share

Discover book awards

By Jessica Doyle
04 January, 2023
The John Newbery Medal celebrates the most distinguished contributions to American literature for children. Discover every winning book since 1922.
1 Min Read
22 September, 2022
The Nobel Prize for Literature is the world’s most important international literary honour. Browse the complete list of winning authors since 1901.
1 Min Read
31 May, 2022
Since 1996, the Women's Prize for Fiction has recognized and celebrated the best women writers around the world. Discover award-winning books from the likes of Zadie Smith, Carol Shields, Ali Smith, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and more.
1 Min Read