The International Booker Prize, formerly called the Man Booker International Prize, is a literary award held in the United Kingdom. In June 2004, the International Prize was introduced to go along with the Man Booker Prize, which was its original name. From 2005 to 2015, the award was given every two years to a living author of any nationality. The author had to have written a body of work published in English or available in English translation. The prize honored an author’s ongoing creativity, growth, and contributions to global fiction, focusing on their overall body of work instead of a single book.
Since 2016, the award has been given each year to a single novel or collection of short stories. The work must be translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. The winner receives £50,000, which is split equally between the author and the translator.
Crankstart, the nonprofit organization founded by Sir Michael Moritz and his wife Harriet Heyman, began supporting The Booker Prizes on June 1, 2019. From that date, the prizes were called The Booker Prize and The International Booker Prize. Moritz said, "Neither of us can picture a day where we don’t spend time reading a book. The Booker Prizes are ways of sharing the ideas, discoveries, and joy that come from great fiction."
History
The Man Booker Prize was originally only open to writers from the Commonwealth, Ireland, and Zimbabwe. The Man Booker International Prize, however, was open to writers from any country, as long as their work was available in English, including translated books. The prize was worth £60,000 and given every two years to a living author for their complete body of work, similar to the Nobel Prize for Literature. It also included a separate award for translators. If needed, the winning author could ask the organization to give £15,000 to their translator.
The first winner of the Man Booker International Prize in 2005 was Albanian writer Ismail Kadare. Journalist Hephzibah Anderson said the prize was becoming a more important award and a strong alternative to the Nobel Prize.
In July 2015, it was announced that the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize would end, and its money would be added to the Man Booker International Prize. Starting in 2016, the prize became annual and changed its purpose to focus on fiction books translated into English. This aimed to promote the publishing and reading of high-quality translated works and to recognize translators. The £50,000 prize is divided between the author and translator. Each shortlisted author and translator receives £2,500. Judges choose a longlist of 12 or 13 books in March ("the Booker Dozen"), then narrow it down to six books in April. The winner is announced in May.
Nominations 2005–2015
The first Man Booker International Prize was judged by John Carey (chair), Alberto Manguel, and Azar Nafisi. The nominees were announced on 2 June 2005 at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare was named the first International Prize winner in 2005. Head judge, Professor John Carey said Kadare is "a universal writer in the tradition of storytelling that goes back to Homer." Kadare said he was "deeply honoured" at being awarded the prize. Kadare was also able to select a translator to receive an additional prize of £15,000. The writer received his award in Edinburgh on 27 June.
The 2007 prize was judged by Elaine Showalter, Nadine Gordimer, and Colm Tóibín. The nominees for the second Man Booker International Prize were announced on 12 April 2007 at Massey College in Toronto. Nigerian author Chinua Achebe was awarded the International Prize for his literary career in 2007. Judge Nadine Gordimer said Achebe was "the father of modern African literature" and that he was "integral" to world literature. Achebe received his award on 28 June in Oxford.
The 2009 prize was judged by Jane Smiley (chair), Amit Chaudhuri, and Andrey Kurkov. The nominees for the third Man Booker International Prize were announced on 18 March 2009 at The New York Public Library. Canadian short story writer Alice Munro was named the winner of the prize in 2009 for her lifetime body of work. Judge Jane Smiley said picking a winner had been "a challenge," but Munro had won the panel over. On Munro's work, Smiley said "Her work is practically perfect. Any writer has to gawk when reading her because her work is very subtle and precise. Her thoughtfulness about every subject is so concentrated." Munro, who said she was "totally amazed and delighted" at her win, received the award at Trinity College Dublin on 25 June.
The 2011 prize was judged by Rick Gekoski (chair), Carmen Callil (withdrew in protest over choice of winner), and Justin Cartwright. The nominees for the fourth Man Booker International Prize were announced on 30 March 2011 at a ceremony in Sydney, Australia. John le Carré asked to be removed from consideration, saying he was "flattered," but that he does not compete for literary prizes. However, judge Rick Gekoski said although he was disappointed that le Carré wanted to withdraw, his name would remain on the list. American novelist Philip Roth was announced as the winner on 18 May 2011 at the Sydney Writers' Festival. Of his win, Roth said "This is a great honour and I'm delighted to receive it." The writer said he hoped the prize would bring him to the attention of readers around the world who are not currently familiar with his body of work. Roth received his award in London on 28 June; however, he was unable to attend in person due to ill health, so he sent a short video instead. After Roth was announced as the winner, Carmen Callil withdrew from the judging panel, saying "I don't rate him as a writer at all… in 20 years' time will anyone read him?" Callil later wrote an editorial in The Guardian explaining her position and why she chose to leave the panel.
The 2013 prize was judged by Christopher Ricks (chair), Elif Batuman, Aminatta Forna, Yiyun Li, and Tim Parks. The nominees for the fifth Man Booker International Prize were announced on 24 January 2013. Marilynne Robinson was the only writer out of the ten nominees who had been nominated for the prize before. Lydia Davis, best known as a short story writer, was announced as the winner of the 2013 prize on 22 May at a ceremony at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The official announcement of Davis' award on the Man Booker Prize website described her work as having "the brevity and precision of poetry." Judging panel chair Christopher Ricks commented that "There is vigilance to her stories, and great imaginative attention. Vigilance as how to realise things down to the very word or syllable; vigilance as to everybody's impure motives and illusions of feeling."
The 2015 prize was judged by British author Marina Warner (chair), Nadeem Aslam, Elleke Boehmer, Edwin Frank, and Wen-chin Ouyang. The nominees for the sixth Man Booker International Prize were announced on 24 March 2015. László Krasznahorkai became the first author from Hungary to receive the prize, which recognised his "achievement in fiction on the world stage." Warner compared his writing to Kafka and Beckett. Krasznahorkai's translators, George Szirtes and Ottilie Mulzet, shared the £15,000 translators' prize.
Nominations 2016–present
The chair of each year's judging panel is shown in bold text.
The nominees for the seventh Man Booker International Prize were announced on 14 April 2016. Six nominees were chosen from a list of thirteen. Han Kang became the first Korean author to win the prize, and, under the new format for 2016, Smith became the first translator to share the prize. British journalist Boyd Tonkin, who chaired the judging panel, said the decision was unanimous. He described the winning book as "written in a style both lyrical and powerful, it shows the effects of a great refusal on the heroine and those around her. This short, beautiful, and thought-provoking book will stay with readers for a long time."
The longlist for the eighth Man Booker International Prize was announced on 14 March 2017, and the shortlist on 20 April 2017. The winner was announced on 14 June 2017. David Grossman became the first Israeli author to win the prize, sharing the £50,000 award with translator Jessica Cohen. Nick Barley, who is the director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, described the winning book as "a bold novel that explores grief without being sentimental. The main character is complex and difficult to understand, but very interesting." The novel beat 126 other books to win.
The longlist for the ninth Man Booker International Prize was announced on 12 March 2018. The shortlist of six books was announced on 12 April 2018 at an event at Somerset House in London. The winner was announced on 22 May 2018 at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Olga Tokarczuk became the first Polish author to win the award, sharing the prize with translator Jennifer Croft. Lisa Appignanesi described Tokarczuk as a "writer with great creativity, imagination, and a love for literature."
The longlist for the Man Booker International Prize was announced on 13 March 2019. The shortlist was announced on 9 April 2019. The winner was announced on 21 May 2019. Jokha Alharthi became the first author writing in Arabic to win the prize. Bettany Hughes said of Celestial Bodies, "The book gives readers a chance to understand new ideas and experiences that are rarely shared in English. It avoids common stereotypes when discussing gender, race, and social issues."
The longlist for the prize was announced on 27 February 2020. The shortlist was announced on 2 April 2020. The winner was originally planned to be announced on 19 May 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the date was changed to 26 August 2020.
The longlist was announced on 30 March 2021, the shortlist on 22 April, and the winning author and translator on 2 June 2021.
The longlist was announced on 10 March 2022; the shortlist on 7 April 2022, and the winner on 26 May 2022. Tomb of Sand became the first Hindi-language novel to be nominated and the first novel in an Indian language to win the International Booker Prize.
The longlist was announced on 14 March 2023, the shortlist on 18 April 2023, and the winner on 23 May 2023. Time Shelter by Gospodinov became the first Bulgarian-language book to win the prize.
The longlist was announced on 11 March 2024, the shortlist on 9 April 2024, and the winner on 21 May 2024