The Booker Prize has unveiled its 2025 shortlist, with Kiran Desai making a dramatic return nearly two decades after winning the award. Desai, who took home the prize in 2006 for The Inheritance of Loss, is back with The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, a 700-page novel praised by judges as “brilliantly human.” It’s her first book in almost 20 years and the standout story of this year’s lineup.
The Six Finalists
Joining Desai on the shortlist are David Szalay’s Flesh, Andrew Miller’s The Land in Winter, Ben Markovits’s The Rest of Our Lives, Katie Kitamura’s Audition, and Susan Choi’s Flashlight. The selection blends Booker veterans with first-time shortlistees, spanning everything from expansive historical narratives to taut psychological fiction.
A Star-Studded Judging Panel
The 2025 jury is chaired by 1993 Booker winner Roddy Doyle, alongside novelist Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, writer and critic Chris Power, author Kiley Reid, and actor-producer Sarah Jessica Parker. Together they narrowed the field from 153 submissions to six. Doyle called the finalists “brilliantly written and brilliantly human,” emphasizing the judges’ focus on voice, rhythm, and narrative command.
What’s at Stake
Each shortlisted author receives £2,500 and a specially bound edition of their book. The winner, to be announced Nov. 10 at a London ceremony, will collect £50,000, the iconic statuette, and the kind of global boost in readership and sales that comes with Booker recognition.
The Longlist Behind the Six
This year’s shortlist emerged from a 13-book longlist announced in July, which featured a range of established names and newer voices. Alongside the six finalists were Claire Adam’s Love Forms, Tash Aw’s The South, Natasha Brown’s Universality, Jonathan Buckley’s One Boat, Maria Reva’s Endling, Benjamin Wood’s Seascraper, and Ledia Xhoga’s Misinterpretation. The longlist reflected the scope of contemporary English-language fiction before narrowing to the final six, which will finally be narrowed down to the final one on Nov 10.