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Booker Prize Winners

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Year Title & Author Historical Context
2025 Flesh by David Szalay Szalay became the first Hungarian-British author to win the Booker Prize. The judges described it as a novel they 'had never read anything quite li...
2024 Orbital by Samantha Harvey The first book set in space to win; it is the second shortest winner in the prize's history.
2023 Prophet Song by Paul Lynch Lynch used a claustrophobic prose style without paragraph breaks to mimic the feeling of entrapment.
2022 The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka Only the second Sri Lankan winner; lauded for its humor in the face of political violence.
2021 The Promise by Damon Galgut Galgut's 'shifting' narrator style was compared to Virginia Woolf and William Faulkner.
2020 Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart A debut novel based on Stuart's own childhood; he wrote it while working as a fashion designer.
2019 Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo Evaristo was the first Black woman to win the Booker Prize.
2019 The Testaments by Margaret Atwood Shared the prize with Evaristo in a 'joint win' that broke the prize's own rules against ties.
2018 Milkman by Anna Burns The first Northern Irish author to win; unique for its 'nameless' characters.
2017 Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders A rare win for an author primarily known for short stories; featured a record-breaking cast for audio.
2016 The Sellout by Paul Beatty Beatty was the first American author to win the Booker, sparking debate about its 'Americanization'.
2015 A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James Marlon James was the first Jamaican author to win; noted for its rhythmic, dialect-heavy prose.
2014 The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan The first year the prize was opened to authors from any country, including the United States.
2013 The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton At 832 pages, it is the longest winner; Catton was the youngest winner at age 28.
2012 Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel Mantel made history by winning two Bookers in just four years for the same protagonist.
2011 The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes Barnes had been shortlisted three times previously; this is one of the shortest winners ever.
2010 The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson This was the first explicitly 'comic' novel to win the Booker in decades.
2009 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel Mantel was the first woman to win twice and the first to win for a direct sequel later on.
2008 The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga Adiga was a debut novelist and only the fourth Indian-born author to win at the time.
2007 The Gathering by Anne Enright Enright's win was considered a victory for high literary fiction over more commercial favorites.
2006 The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai At 35, Desai was the youngest woman at the time to win; she is the daughter of Anita Desai.
2005 The Sea by John Banville The win was an 'upset' victory over the heavy favorite, Kazuo Ishiguro's 'Never Let Me Go'.
2004 The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst The first book with an explicitly gay protagonist to win, praised for its social observation.
2003 Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre DBC Pierre was a debut novelist; the 'DBC' stands for 'Dirty Ben Connolly'.
2002 Life of Pi by Yann Martel The book was famously rejected by many houses before being accepted by a small Canadian publisher.
2001 True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey Carey joined Coetzee as a two-time winner; the novel is lauded for its visceral Australian vernacular.
2000 The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood This win for her tenth novel was celebrated as long-overdue crowning for Atwood's career.
1999 Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee With this win, Coetzee became the first person to win the Booker Prize twice.
1998 Amsterdam by Ian McEwan While one of his shorter works, the win recognized McEwan's status as a master of the modern novel.
1997 The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy Roy was a debut author when she won; the book became a massive global phenomenon.
1996 The Last Orders by Graham Swift The book faced brief controversy over its structural similarities to William Faulkner's 'As I Lay Dying'.
1995 The Ghost Road by Pat Barker Barker was praised for her unflinching portrayal of trench warfare, breaking gender stereotypes.
1994 How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman One judge resigned in protest over the book's 'excessive' use of profanity, making it a controversial win.
1993 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle Doyle's win marked a shift for the Booker toward more colloquial and working-class language.
1992 The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje In 2018, this book won the 'Golden Man Booker,' celebrating the best winner in the prize's history.
1991 The Famished Road by Ben Okri At 32, Okri was one of the youngest winners; the book is a landmark of African magical realism.
1990 Possession by A. S. Byatt The novel is credited with revitalizing the 'Neo-Victorian' genre and became a global bestseller.
1989 The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro Ishiguro wrote the draft for this masterpiece in just four weeks during an intense 'Crash' period.
1988 Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey This was Peter Carey's first Booker win; he would go on to win a second in 2001.
1987 Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively Lively was previously known as a children's author; this win solidified her reputation in adult fiction.
1986 The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis This win was seen as a 'lifetime achievement' award for one of Britain's most famous novelists.
1985 The Bone People by Keri Hulme Hulme was the first New Zealander to win; the book was originally published by a small feminist collective.
1984 Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner Brookner was an art historian; her precise prose style is compared to the 18th-century French paintings.
1983 Life & Times of Michael K by J. M. Coetzee Coetzee was the first author to win the Booker Prize twice; his second win came in 1999.
1982 Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally Renamed 'Schindler's List' in the US, it served as the basis for Steven Spielberg's 1993 film.
1981 Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie This book won the 'Booker of Bookers' twice, designated as the best novel to have ever won the prize.
1980 Rites of Passage by William Golding Golding won this prize just three years before winning the Nobel Prize; it is part of a trilogy.
1979 Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald Many critics were shocked that this slim book beat the heavy favorite, V.S. Naipaul's 'A Bend in the River'.
1978 The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch Murdoch was a philosopher, and this book is studied for its layers of moral philosophy.
1977 Staying On by Paul Scott A sequel to Scott's 'Raj Quartet,' it was seen as recognition for his focus on colonial India.
1976 Saville by David Storey Storey was a professional rugby league player before becoming a writer, infusing his work with grit.
1975 Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Jhabvala is unique for winning both a Booker Prize and two Academy Awards for screenwriting.
1974 Holiday by Stanley Middleton One of only two years in the prize's history where the award was shared between two authors.
1974 The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer Gordimer was an anti-apartheid activist who eventually won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991.
1973 The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell Farrell later won the 'Lost Man Booker' in 2010 for his 1970 work that missed out due to a rule change.
1972 G. by John Berger Berger famously used his acceptance speech to denounce the prize's sponsors for historical links to the slave trade.
1971 In a Free State by V. S. Naipaul Considered controversial at the time because it is technically a collection of shorter works rather than a single unified novel.
1970 The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens Bernice Rubens was the first woman to win the Booker Prize, setting a precedent for the award's recognition of family dramas.
1969 Something to Answer For by P. H. Newby The very first winner of the Booker Prize; the prize money was originally £5,000 (roughly £85,000 today).