The Booker Prize is the leading literary award in the English speaking world, and has brought recognition, reward and readership to outstanding fiction for over five decades. Each year, the prize is awarded to what is, in the opinion of the judges, the best sustained work of fiction written in English and published in the UK and Ireland. It is a prize that transforms the winner’s career.
The 2025 longlist was announced on Tuesday 29 July, featuring the ‘Booker Dozen’ of 13 books. They’ve been captivating readers all over the world, and will be narrowed down to a shortlist of six books on Tuesday 23 September at a live announcement at the Southbank Centre in London.
Do you want to win a set of the shortlist for your book club to enjoy? We have a competition open until 2 October for two lucky groups each to win a set of the six shortlisted titles. Enter now.
This year’s Booker Prize is all about fiction worth talking about, and there’s a lot in these brilliant books to get your book club talking.
Get more out of your book club with the Booker Prizes.
From the joys of shared reading to how to read like a Booker Prize judge, via some excellent reading recommendations, discover the Booker Prizes’ collection of articles about and for book clubs.
How we built a book club community – and how you can too
The Candid Book Club is made up of five book-loving friends who came together to read and talk about book, setting up an Instagram account to share their reading with more people. They share their story, recommendations for others, and how they started organising in-person events for other enthusiastic readers.
“We believe that book clubs should open your mind to new ideas, foster connections and friendships, and most importantly, be about having fun with reading”
Find out more about their journey and events.
© The Candid Book Club
‘We cry, laugh, and grow wiser with each story’ – how book clubs bring us together
“‘We often wonder aloud if we’d have read so many amazing books without doing it together”
Book clubs create communities; they bring people together, whether friends, family, colleagues, or introducing us to new people. Compared to non-book club members, book club members are 86% more likely to say that reading helps them to feel connected to others, and 55% more likely to say reading helps them to feel less lonely.
What impact has being in a book club had on you? The Booker Prizes invited newsletter subscribers and followers to share their best book-club stories, with people revealing the heartwarming connections they’ve made through their clubs..
“‘I met my fiancé through my book club”
How to read like a Booker Prize judge – according to Chris Power
Being a Booker Prize judge is a bit like being a member of the most intense book club in the world. In this article, Chris Power offers his advice and recommendations about reading more, from finding time, to taking notes, to embracing the unknown.
Find out Chris’ top tips for reading more.
Booker Prize 2025 judge Chris Power, photographed at Fortnum & Mason in London © Neo Gilder for Booker Prize Foundation
The Booker Prize 2025 judges and longlisted authors describe their dream book clubs
Who’s in your dream book club? Is it your current club members, or would you like a celebrity or favourite author to join? In this article, the Booker Prize judges and longlisted authors share how their dream clubs would be.
Book recommendations for your club
It wouldn’t be a book club without leaving with long list of books to read, and the Booker Prizes won’t leave you empty-handed! As well as this year’s longlist, discover their recommendations for novels from the Booker Library that are great for discussion, along with some accompanying questions to get the conversation started. All of these books contain stories which are instantly engaging, but they also involve many rich topics and themes to consider.
You can also delve into the Monthly Spotlight; hand-picked titles from the Booker Library with reading guides, extracts, articles, essay and even competitions, all for your book club to enjoy.
Want to hear more from the Booker Prizes? Sign up for their newsletter for more recommendations, insights, interviews, features and more from the world’s greatest writers of fiction.
The Booker Prize 2025 Shortlist Announcement
Get a glimpse behind the judging room doors of the world’s most significant award for a single work of fiction, with live readings by special guests.
Join the judges of the Booker Prize 2025, Chair Roddy Doyle and his fellow panellists Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, Sarah Jessica Parker, Chris Power and Kiley Reid, as they announce the shortlist for this year’s prize live on stage.
The judges are in conversation with Booker Prize Foundation Chief Executive Gaby Wood for this unique evening, which marks the first announcement of the shortlist at a public event.
Where: Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London, SE1 8XX
When: 7.30pm, Tuesday, 23 September 2025
Tickets: from £20, on sale now via the Southbank Centre
