As the International Booker celebrates 10 years in its current form, take a look back on a decade of powerful, prize-winning works, translated from 10 different original languages.
It’s a decade since The Vegetarian – written by Han Kang and translated from Korean into English by Deborah Smith – won the International Booker Prize in 2016. Kang has since been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature and, in her words, been able to ‘reach a wider readership in different cultures’. Nine more outstanding works of translated fiction have gone on to win the prize since.
2016 was an important moment for translated fiction. Established in 2005, the Man Booker International Prize, as it was then known, began as a biennial award, presented to an author for their entire body of work, and there was no stipulation that they write in a language other than English. When, in 2014, the Booker Prize had expanded to include authors of any nationality writing in English, the International Booker Prize was able to evolve into its current shape: an annual award for a single book, written in another language and translated into English, and published in the UK and/or Ireland. The award gives equal recognition to authors and translators, with the prize money split 50:50.
Most of us have towering to-be-read piles – why read translated fiction especially? Samuel McDowell, publisher at Charco Press, argues that, like all books, translated fiction offers us ‘the opportunity for escapism, for adventure, to have a laugh, and to be provoked… What translation offers on top of this is the ability to experience it all from someone who perhaps has had very different life experiences… It helps us better understand and appreciate each other.’
These are immersive books that create connections, beyond borders. Viv Groskop, an International Booker Prize judge in 2022, says, ‘There’s something magical about translated fiction… It’s one of the most direct and intimate human experiences we can share with someone who has a different native language to us. I’m in awe of the translators who facilitate that connection.’
In his book The Philosophy of Translation, the International Booker Prize-shortlisted translator Damion Searls explores both the theory and practice of his work. He explains, ‘Everything I do is a case of believing that one language can and always will carry traces of another, that the boundaries are permeable, and that English is capacious enough for “other” languages.’
Explore the reading list for your guide to the 10 books, authors and translators awarded the International Booker Prize since 2016, and a route into a world where boundaries are permeable and magical things happen. These are books that are – in the words of the judges – exquisite, surprising, subversive, disturbing, mischievous, gleeful, frightening, playful, luminous and kaleidoscopic.
Vote for your favourite International Booker Prize-winning book
International Booker would love to know which of the winning books since 2016 is your favourite and why, as well as offering one lucky person the chance to win a bundle of all 10 prize-winning books.
Find out more and vote for your favourite before Tuesday, 21 April 2026.
Get involved
If you work in a library or workplace, celebrate The International Booker Prize 2026 by ordering a free print and digital pack from our shop by midday, 25 February.
What do you think of all winning titles from the past decade? Will any make your TBR pile? Add your comments below!
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