Perhaps the best way to explain the thrill of bagging the Booker is this quote by author Graham Swift, winner of the 1996 Booker for Last Orders: “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.”
What is the Booker Prize?
One of the greatest literary awards yet — The Booker Prize — is annually awarded to a fine work of fiction written in English over the preceding calendar year. Started in 1969, The Booker Prize is also known as The Booker-McConnell Prize (after the multinational company that established the prize) and The Man Booker Prize (as it was sponsored by the Man Group from 2002-2019).
The Prize aims to celebrate long-form fiction by Commonwealth writers published in the U.K. or Ireland. Both novels and short story collections are eligible.
The winner of The Booker Prize receives £50,000 (about $75,000 USD), while the Man Group foundation also awards £2,500 and a designer-bound copy of their book to each of the six shortlisted authors. Post this prestigious award, the authors can expect a huge boost in worldwide book sales.
Over the years, The Booker Prize has embraced inclusivity and an international prize was added in 2005 to honour writers whose books were translated into English, and in 2014 the English-language prize was opened up to all authors regardless of origin
Fun Fact: The first Booker Prize ceremony was televised on the BBC in 1976. The ceremony is broadcast by the BBC each year to this day.
What is the difference between The Booker Prize and The International Booker Prize?
The Booker Prize and The Booker International Prize are two separate literary awards.
The Booker Prize or Man Booker Prize is an annual award for the best fiction novel in the English language published in the U.K. and Ireland. Earlier, it was only open to writers from the U.K., the Republic of Ireland and the Commonwealth countries. Now all English-language authors across the world are considered.
The Booker International Prize or Man Booker International Prize is an annual award that felicitates authors of any nationality for works of fiction that have been translated into English.
Special Booker Prize Awards
- The Booker Prize celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1993, when a “Booker of Bookers” Prize was awarded. Judges chose Salman Rushdie’s 1981 winner, Midnight’s Children as “the best novel out of all the winners”.
- In 2008, The Best of the Booker was awarded again to celebrate the prize’s 40th anniversary. Six authors were shortlisted — Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, Coetzee’s Disgrace, Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda, Gordimer’s The Conservationist, Farrell’s The Siege of Krishnapur, and Barker’s The Ghost Road. Midnight’s Children was publicly voted as the winner again.
- The Booker’s 50th anniversary was commemorated with the Golden Man Booker. One book from each decade was shortlisted: Naipaul’s In a Free State (the 1971 winner), Lively’s Moon Tiger (1987), Ondaatje’s The English Patient (1992), Mantel’s Wolf Hall (2009) and Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo (2017). The winner, by popular vote, was The English Patient.
Click below to explore more Booker Prize-winning books!
