Every Booker Prize winner, 1969–2025

The Booker Prize has gone to 60 books since 1969; in 1974, 1992 and 2019 the prize was shared. The latest winner is Flesh by David Szalay (2025). The most readable is Flesh by David Szalay (difficulty 45/100, about 5.3 hours); the hardest is The Sellout by Paul Beatty (85/100). The quickest to finish is Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald, at about 2.9 hours.

How book difficulty is measured

The 2026 shortlist

6 books are on the 2026 shortlist, chosen from a longlist of 13; the winner is named on 9 November 2026. The easiest to read is The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout (difficulty 35/100, about 3.5 hours); the hardest is The End of Everything by M. John Harrison (64/100).

• The End of Everything by M. John Harrison — difficulty 64/100
• The Disappearers by Marlon James — difficulty 60/100
• Black Bag by Luke Kennard — difficulty 52/100, about 5.8 hours
• May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry — difficulty 45/100, about 5.2 hours
• The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout — difficulty 35/100, about 3.5 hours
• John of John by Douglas Stuart — difficulty 35/100, about 6.3 hours

Also on the longlist: The Shadow of the Object by Chloe Aridjis, Switzy by Emma Cline, Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman, The Renovation by Kenan Orhan, The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley, All Them Dogs by Djamel White, The Vivisectors by Missouri Williams.

2025

• Flesh by David Szalay — difficulty 45/100, about 5.3 hours
• Flashlight by Susan Choi — shortlist
• The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai — shortlist
• Audition by Katie Kitamura — shortlist
• The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits — shortlist
• The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller — shortlist
• Love Forms by Claire Adam — longlist
• The South by Tash Aw — longlist
• Universality by Natasha Brown — longlist
• One Boat by Jonathan Buckley — longlist
• Endling by Maria Reva — longlist
• Seascraper by Benjamin Wood — longlist
• Misinterpretation by Ledia Xhoga — longlist

2024

• Orbital by Samantha Harvey — difficulty 55/100, about 3.1 hours
• James by Percival Everett — shortlist
• Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner — shortlist
• Held by Anne Michaels — shortlist
• The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden — shortlist
• Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood — shortlist
• Wild Houses by Colin Barrett — longlist
• Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel — longlist
• My Friends by Hisham Matar — longlist
• This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud — longlist
• Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange — longlist
• Enlightenment by Sarah Perry — longlist
• Playground by Richard Powers — longlist

2023

• Prophet Song by Paul Lynch — difficulty 60/100, about 5.2 hours
• Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein — shortlist
• If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery — shortlist
• This Other Eden by Paul Harding — shortlist
• The Bee Sting by Paul Murray — shortlist
• Western Lane by Chetna Maroo — shortlist
• A Spell of Good Things by Ayobami Adebayo — longlist
• Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry — longlist
• How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney — longlist
• Pearl by Siân Hughes — longlist
• All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow — longlist
• In Ascension by Martin MacInnes — longlist
• The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng — longlist

2022

• The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka — difficulty 67/100, about 13 hours
• Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo — shortlist
• The Trees by Percival Everett — shortlist
• Treacle Walker by Alan Garner — shortlist
• Small Things like These by Claire Keegan — shortlist
• Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout — shortlist
• Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet — longlist
• Trust by Hernan Diaz — longlist
• Booth by Karen Joy Fowler — longlist
• The Colony by Audrey Magee — longlist
• Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer — longlist
• Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley — longlist
• After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz — longlist

2021

• The Promise by Damon Galgut — difficulty 58/100, about 6.3 hours
• A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam — shortlist
• No One Is Talking about This by Patricia Lockwood — shortlist
• The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed — shortlist
• Bewilderment by Richard Powers — shortlist
• Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead — shortlist
• Second Place by Rachel Cusk — longlist
• The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris — longlist
• Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro — longlist
• An Island by Karen Jennings — longlist
• A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson — longlist
• China Room by Sunjeev Sahota — longlist
• Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford — longlist

2020

• Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart — difficulty 52/100, about 11 hours
• The New Wilderness by Diane Cook — shortlist
• This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga — shortlist
• Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi — shortlist
• The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste — shortlist
• Real Life by Brandon Taylor — shortlist
• Who They Was by Gabriel Krauze — longlist
• The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel — longlist
• Apeirogon by Colum McCann — longlist
• Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid — longlist
• Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler — longlist
• Love and Other Thought Experiments by Sophie Ward — longlist
• How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang — longlist

2019

• The Testaments by Margaret Atwood — difficulty 75/100, about 13 hours, joint winner
• Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo — difficulty 53/100, about 9.7 hours, joint winner
• Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann — shortlist
• An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma — shortlist
• Quichotte by Salman Rushdie — shortlist
• 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak — shortlist
• Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry — longlist
• My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite — longlist
• The Wall by John Lanchester — longlist
• The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy — longlist
• Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli — longlist
• Lanny by Max Porter — longlist
• Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson — longlist

2018

• Milkman by Anna Burns — difficulty 72/100, about 14 hours
• Washington Black by Esi Edugyan — shortlist
• Everything Under by Daisy Johnson — shortlist
• The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner — shortlist
• The Overstory by Richard Powers — shortlist
• The Long Take by Robin Robertson — shortlist
• Snap by Belinda Bauer — longlist
• Sabrina by Nick Drnaso — longlist
• In Our Mad and Furious City by Guy Gunaratne — longlist
• The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh — longlist
• Warlight by Michael Ondaatje — longlist
• Normal People by Sally Rooney — longlist
• From a Low and Quiet Sea by Donal Ryan — longlist

2017

• Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders — difficulty 59/100, about 4.8 hours
• 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster — shortlist
• History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund — shortlist
• Exit West by Mohsin Hamid — shortlist
• Elmet by Fiona Mozley — shortlist
• Autumn by Ali Smith — shortlist
• Days without End by Sebastian Barry — longlist
• Solar Bones by Mike McCormack — longlist
• Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor — longlist
• The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy — longlist
• Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie — longlist
• Swing Time by Zadie Smith — longlist
• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead — longlist

2016

• The Sellout by Paul Beatty — difficulty 85/100, about 13 hours
• Hot Milk by Deborah Levy — shortlist
• His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet — shortlist
• Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh — shortlist
• All That Man Is by David Szalay — shortlist
• Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien — shortlist
• The Schooldays of Jesus by J. M. Coetzee — longlist
• Serious Sweet by A. L. Kennedy — longlist
• The North Water by Ian McGuire — longlist
• Hystopia by David Means — longlist
• The Many by Wyl Menmuir — longlist
• Work Like Any Other by Virginia Reeves — longlist
• My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout — longlist

2015

• A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James — difficulty 70/100, about 26 hours
• Satin Island by Tom McCarthy — shortlist
• The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma — shortlist
• The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota — shortlist
• A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler — shortlist
• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara — shortlist
• Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg — longlist
• The Green Road by Anne Enright — longlist
• The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami — longlist
• The Illuminations by Andrew O'Hagan — longlist
• Lila by Marilynne Robinson — longlist
• Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy — longlist
• The Chimes by Anna Smaill — longlist

2014

• The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan — difficulty 59/100, about 9.6 hours
• To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris — shortlist
• We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler — shortlist
• J by Howard Jacobson — shortlist
• The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee — shortlist
• How to Be Both by Ali Smith — shortlist
• The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt — longlist
• The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth — longlist
• The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell — longlist
• Us by David Nicholls — longlist
• The Dog by Joseph O'Neill — longlist
• Orfeo by Richard Powers — longlist
• History of the Rain by Niall Williams — longlist

2013

• The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton — difficulty 61/100, about 22 hours
• We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo — shortlist
• Harvest by Jim Crace — shortlist
• The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri — shortlist
• A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki — shortlist
• The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín — shortlist
• Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw — longlist
• The Marrying of Chani Kaufman by Eve Harris — longlist
• The Kills by Richard House — longlist
• Unexploded by Alison MacLeod — longlist
• TransAtlantic by Colum McCann — longlist
• Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson — longlist
• The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan — longlist

2012

• Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel — difficulty 59/100, about 11 hours
• Swimming Home by Deborah Levy — shortlist
• The Lighthouse by Alison Moore — shortlist
• Umbrella by Will Self — shortlist
• The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng — shortlist
• Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil — shortlist
• The Yips by Nicola Barker — longlist
• The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman — longlist
• Philida by André Brink — longlist
• Skios by Michael Frayn — longlist
• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce — longlist
• Communion Town by Sam Thompson — longlist

2011

• The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes — difficulty 73/100, about 4.9 hours
• Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch — shortlist
• The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt — shortlist
• Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan — shortlist
• Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman — shortlist
• Snowdrops by A. D. Miller — shortlist
• On Canaan's Side by Sebastian Barry — longlist
• A Cupboard Full of Coats by Yvvette Edwards — longlist
• The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst — longlist
• The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness — longlist
• Far to Go by Alison Pick — longlist
• The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers — longlist
• Derby Day by D. J. Taylor — longlist

2010

• The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson — difficulty 75/100, about 14 hours
• Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey — shortlist
• Room by Emma Donoghue — shortlist
• In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut — shortlist
• The Long Song by Andrea Levy — shortlist
• C by Tom McCarthy — shortlist
• The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore — longlist
• The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell — longlist
• February by Lisa Moore — longlist
• Skippy Dies by Paul Murray — longlist
• Trespass by Rose Tremain — longlist
• The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas — longlist
• The Stars in the Bright Sky by Alan Warner — longlist

2009

• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel — difficulty 60/100, about 18 hours
• The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt — shortlist
• Summertime by J. M. Coetzee — shortlist
• The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds — shortlist
• The Glass Room by Simon Mawer — shortlist
• The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters — shortlist
• How to Paint a Dead Man by Sarah Hall — longlist
• The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey — longlist
• Me Cheeta by James Lever — longlist
• Not Untrue and Not Unkind by Ed O'Loughlin — longlist
• Heliopolis by James Scudamore — longlist
• Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín — longlist
• Love and Summer by William Trevor — longlist

2008

• The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga — difficulty 70/100, about 8.5 hours
• The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry — shortlist
• Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh — shortlist
• The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant — shortlist
• The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher — shortlist
• A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz — shortlist
• Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold — longlist
• From A to X by John Berger — longlist
• The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser — longlist
• A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif — longlist
• Netherland by Joseph O'Neill — longlist
• The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie — longlist
• Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith — longlist

2007

• The Gathering by Anne Enright — difficulty 56/100, about 6.2 hours
• Darkmans by Nicola Barker — shortlist
• The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid — shortlist
• Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones — shortlist
• On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan — shortlist
• Animal's People by Indra Sinha — shortlist
• Self Help by Edward Docx — longlist
• The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies — longlist
• Gifted by Nikita Lalwani — longlist
• What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn — longlist
• Consolation by Michael Redhill — longlist
• The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng — longlist
• Winnie and Wolf by A. N. Wilson — longlist

2006

• The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai — difficulty 74/100, about 13 hours
• The Secret River by Kate Grenville — shortlist
• Carry Me Down by M. J. Hyland — shortlist
• In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar — shortlist
• Mother's Milk by Edward St Aubyn — shortlist
• The Night Watch by Sarah Waters — shortlist
• Theft: A Love Story by Peter Carey — longlist
• Gathering the Water by Robert Edric — longlist
• Get a Life by Nadine Gordimer — longlist
• Kalooki Nights by Howard Jacobson — longlist
• Seven Lies by James Lasdun — longlist
• The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson — longlist
• So Many Ways to Begin by Jon McGregor — longlist
• The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud — longlist
• Black Swan Green by David Mitchell — longlist
• The Perfect Man by Naeem Murr — longlist
• Be Near Me by Andrew O'Hagan — longlist
• The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson — longlist
• The Ruby in Her Navel by Barry Unsworth — longlist

2005

• The Sea by John Banville — difficulty 73/100, about 6.8 hours
• Arthur and George by Julian Barnes — shortlist
• A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry — shortlist
• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro — shortlist
• The Accidental by Ali Smith — shortlist
• On Beauty by Zadie Smith — shortlist
• The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw — longlist
• Slow Man by J. M. Coetzee — longlist
• In the Fold by Rachel Cusk — longlist
• All for Love by Dan Jacobson — longlist
• A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka — longlist
• Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel — longlist
• Saturday by Ian McEwan — longlist
• The People's Act of Love by James Meek — longlist
• Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie — longlist
• This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson — longlist
• This Is The Country by William Wall — longlist

2004

• The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst — difficulty 59/100, about 13 hours
• Bitter Fruit by Achmat Dangor — shortlist
• The Electric Michelangelo by Sarah Hall — shortlist
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell — shortlist
• The Master by Colm Tóibín — shortlist
• I'll Go to Bed at Noon by Gerard Woodward — shortlist
• Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie — longlist
• Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam — longlist
• Clear: A Transparent Novel by Nicola Barker — longlist
• The Island Walkers by John Bemrose — longlist
• Havoc, in Its Third Year by Ronan Bennett — longlist
• Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke — longlist
• Always the Sun by Neil Cross — longlist
• Becoming Strangers by Louise Dean — longlist
• A Blade of Grass by Lewis DeSoto — longlist
• Cooking with Fernet Branca by James Hamilton-Paterson — longlist
• The Honeymoon by Justin Haythe — longlist
• The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard — longlist
• Sixty Lights by Gail Jones — longlist
• The Unnumbered by Sam North — longlist
• Snowleg by Nicholas Shakespeare — longlist
• Cherry by Matt Thorne — longlist

2003

• Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre — difficulty 59/100, about 6.9 hours
• Brick Lane by Monica Ali — shortlist
• Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood — shortlist
• The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut — shortlist
• Notes on a Scandal by Zoë Heller — shortlist
• Astonishing Splashes of Colour by Clare Morrall — shortlist
• Yellow Dog by Martin Amis — longlist
• Turn Again Home by Carol Birch — longlist
• Crossing the Lines by Melvyn Bragg — longlist
• Elizabeth Costello by J. M. Coetzee — longlist
• The Taxi Driver's Daughter by Julia Darling — longlist
• Schopenhauer's Telescope by Gerard Donovan — longlist
• The Romantic by Barbara Gowdy — longlist
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon — longlist
• The Nick of Time by Francis King — longlist
• Heligoland by Shena Mackay — longlist
• Jazz etc. by John Murray — longlist
• Something Might Happen by Julie Myerson — longlist
• Judge Savage by Tim Parks — longlist
• A Distant Shore by Caryl Phillips — longlist
• Waxwings by Jonathan Raban — longlist
• The Light of Day by Graham Swift — longlist
• Frankie and Stankie by Barbara Trapido — longlist

2002

• Life of Pi by Yann Martel — difficulty 58/100, about 7.9 hours
• Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry — shortlist
• Unless by Carol Shields — shortlist
• The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor — shortlist
• Fingersmith by Sarah Waters — shortlist
• Dirt Music by Tim Winton — shortlist
• The Strange Case of Dr Simmonds and Dr Glas by Dannie Abse — longlist
• Shroud by John Banville — longlist
• Critical Injuries by Joan Barfoot — longlist
• Any Human Heart by William Boyd — longlist
• The Next Big Thing by Anita Brookner — longlist
• Peacetime by Robert Edric — longlist
• Spies by Michael Frayn — longlist
• Still Here by Linda Grant — longlist
• The Mulberry Empire by Philip Hensher — longlist
• Who's Sorry Now? by Howard Jacobson — longlist
• If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor — longlist
• Dorian by Will Self — longlist
• The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith — longlist
• To the Last City by Colin Thubron — longlist

2001

• True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey — difficulty 59/100, about 10 hours
• Atonement by Ian McEwan — shortlist
• Oxygen by Andrew Miller — shortlist
• number9dream by David Mitchell — shortlist
• The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert — shortlist
• Hotel World by Ali Smith — shortlist
• According to Queeney by Beryl Bainbridge — longlist
• If the Invader Comes by Derek Beaven — longlist
• A Son of War by Melvyn Bragg — longlist
• Shamrock Tea by Ciaran Carson — longlist
• The Element of Water by Stevie Davies — longlist
• The Pickup by Nadine Gordimer — longlist
• Dogside Story by Patricia Grace — longlist
• By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah — longlist
• How to Be Good by Nick Hornby — longlist
• Wolfy and the Strudelbakers by Zvi Jagendorf — longlist
• Translated Accounts by James Kelman — longlist
• The Blue Tango by Eoin McNamee — longlist
• Fairness by Ferdinand Mount — longlist
• Half a Life by V. S. Naipaul — longlist
• The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman — longlist
• The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri — longlist
• The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart — longlist
• The Leto Bundle by Marina Warner — longlist

2000

• The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood — difficulty 74/100, about 21 hours
• The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi — shortlist
• The Keepers of Truth by Michael Collins — shortlist
• When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro — shortlist
• English Passengers by Matthew Kneale — shortlist
• The Deposition of Father McGreevy by Brian O'Doherty — shortlist

1999

• Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee — difficulty 59/100, about 5.2 hours
• Fasting, Feasting by Anita Desai — shortlist
• Headlong by Michael Frayn — shortlist
• Our Fathers by Andrew O'Hagan — shortlist
• The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif — shortlist
• The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Tóibín — shortlist

1998

• Amsterdam by Ian McEwan — difficulty 71/100, about 4.6 hours
• Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge — shortlist
• England, England by Julian Barnes — shortlist
• The Industry of Souls by Martin Booth — shortlist
• Breakfast on Pluto by Patrick McCabe — shortlist
• The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills — shortlist

1997

• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy — difficulty 62/100, about 8.2 hours
• Quarantine by Jim Crace — shortlist
• The Underground Man by Mick Jackson — shortlist
• Grace Notes by Bernard MacLaverty — shortlist
• Europa by Tim Parks — shortlist
• The Essence of the Thing by Madeleine St John — shortlist

1996

• Last Orders by Graham Swift — difficulty 71/100, about 9.1 hours
• Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood — shortlist
• Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge — shortlist
• Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane — shortlist
• The Orchard on Fire by Shena Mackay — shortlist
• A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry — shortlist

1995

• The Ghost Road by Pat Barker — difficulty 75/100, about 7.7 hours
• In Every Face I Meet by Justin Cartwright — shortlist
• The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie — shortlist
• Morality Play by Barry Unsworth — shortlist
• The Riders by Tim Winton — shortlist

1994

• How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman — difficulty 67/100, about 12 hours
• Reef by Romesh Gunesekera — shortlist
• Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah — shortlist
• The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst — shortlist
• Beside the Ocean of Time by George Mackay Brown — shortlist
• Knowledge of Angels by Jill Paton Walsh — shortlist

1993

• Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle — difficulty 52/100, about 5.4 hours
• Under the Frog by Tibor Fischer — shortlist
• Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff — shortlist
• Remembering Babylon by David Malouf — shortlist
• Crossing the River by Caryl Phillips — shortlist
• The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields — shortlist

1992

• The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje — difficulty 63/100, about 7.2 hours, joint winner
• Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth — difficulty 76/100, about 29 hours, joint winner
• Serenity House by Christopher Hope — shortlist
• The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe — shortlist
• Black Dogs by Ian McEwan — shortlist
• Daughters of the House by Michèle Roberts — shortlist

1991

• The Famished Road by Ben Okri — difficulty 63/100, about 16 hours
• Time's Arrow by Martin Amis — shortlist
• The Van by Roddy Doyle — shortlist
• Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry — shortlist
• The Redundancy of Courage by Timothy Mo — shortlist
• Reading Turgenev by William Trevor — shortlist

1990

• Possession by A. S. Byatt — difficulty 60/100, about 15 hours
• An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge — shortlist
• The Gate of Angels by Penelope Fitzgerald — shortlist
• Amongst Women by John McGahern — shortlist
• Lies of Silence by Brian Moore — shortlist
• Solomon Gursky Was Here by Mordecai Richler — shortlist

1989

• The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro — difficulty 74/100, about 9.2 hours
• Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood — shortlist
• The Book of Evidence by John Banville — shortlist
• Jigsaw by Sybille Bedford — shortlist
• A Disaffection by James Kelman — shortlist
• Restoration by Rose Tremain — shortlist

1988

• Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey — difficulty 72/100, about 20 hours
• Utz by Bruce Chatwin — shortlist
• The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald — shortlist
• Nice Work by David Lodge — shortlist
• The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie — shortlist
• The Lost Father by Marina Warner — shortlist

1987

• Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively — difficulty 77/100, about 9.3 hours
• Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe — shortlist
• Chatterton by Peter Ackroyd — shortlist
• Circles of Deceit by Nina Bawden — shortlist
• The Colour of Blood by Brian Moore — shortlist
• The Book and the Brotherhood by Iris Murdoch — shortlist

1986

• The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis — difficulty 68/100, about 12 hours
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood — shortlist
• Gabriel's Lament by Paul Bailey — shortlist
• What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies — shortlist
• An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro — shortlist
• An Insular Possession by Timothy Mo — shortlist

1985

• The Bone People by Keri Hulme — difficulty 76/100, about 21 hours
• Illywhacker by Peter Carey — shortlist
• The Battle of Pollocks Crossing by J. L. Carr — shortlist
• The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing — shortlist
• Last Letters from Hav by Jan Morris — shortlist
• The Good Apprentice by Iris Murdoch — shortlist

1984

• Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner — difficulty 72/100, about 5.8 hours
• Empire of the Sun by J. G. Ballard — shortlist
• Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes — shortlist
• In Custody by Anita Desai — shortlist
• According to Mark by Penelope Lively — shortlist
• Small World by David Lodge — shortlist

1983

• Life & Times of Michael K by J. M. Coetzee — difficulty 59/100, about 5.2 hours
• Rates of Exchange by Malcolm Bradbury — shortlist
• Flying to Nowhere by John Fuller — shortlist
• The Illusionist by Anita Mason — shortlist
• Shame by Salman Rushdie — shortlist
• Waterland by Graham Swift — shortlist

1982

• Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally — difficulty 53/100, about 9.9 hours
• Silence among the Weapons by John Arden — shortlist
• An Ice-Cream War by William Boyd — shortlist
• Constance or Solitary Practices by Lawrence Durrell — shortlist
• The 27th Kingdom by Alice Thomas Ellis — shortlist
• Sour Sweet by Timothy Mo — shortlist

1981

• Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie — difficulty 67/100, about 21 hours
• Good Behaviour by Molly Keane — shortlist
• The Sirian Experiments by Doris Lessing — shortlist
• The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan — shortlist
• Rhine Journey by Ann Schlee — shortlist
• Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark — shortlist
• The White Hotel by D. M. Thomas — shortlist

1980

• Rites of Passage by William Golding — difficulty 61/100, about 6.3 hours
• Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess — shortlist
• A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr — shortlist
• Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai — shortlist
• The Beggar Maid by Alice Munro — shortlist
• No Country for Young Men by Julia O'Faolain — shortlist
• Pascali's Island by Barry Unsworth — shortlist

1979

• Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald — difficulty 54/100, about 2.9 hours
• Confederates by Thomas Keneally — shortlist
• A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul — shortlist
• Joseph by Julian Rathbone — shortlist
• Praxis by Fay Weldon — shortlist

1978

• The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch — difficulty 79/100, about 29 hours
• Jake's Thing by Kingsley Amis — shortlist
• Rumours of Rain by André Brink — shortlist
• The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald — shortlist
• God on the Rocks by Jane Gardam — shortlist
• A Five-Year Sentence by Bernice Rubens — shortlist

1977

• Staying On by Paul Scott — difficulty 53/100, about 5.9 hours
• Peter Smart's Confessions by Paul Bailey — shortlist
• Great Granny Webster by Caroline Blackwood — shortlist
• Shadows on Our Skin by Jennifer Johnston — shortlist
• The Road to Lichfield by Penelope Lively — shortlist
• Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym — shortlist

1976

• Saville by David Storey — difficulty 54/100, about 14 hours
• An Instant in the Wind by André Brink — shortlist
• Rising by R. C. Hutchinson — shortlist
• The Doctor's Wife by Brian Moore — shortlist
• King Fisher Lives by Julian Rathbone — shortlist
• The Children of Dynmouth by William Trevor — shortlist

1975

• Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala — difficulty 62/100, about 5 hours
• Gossip from the Forest by Thomas Keneally — shortlist

1974

• The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer — difficulty 61/100, about 7.3 hours, joint winner
• Holiday by Stanley Middleton — difficulty 46/100, about 3.9 hours, joint winner
• Ending Up by Kingsley Amis — shortlist
• The Bottle Factory Outing by Beryl Bainbridge — shortlist
• In Their Wisdom by C. P. Snow — shortlist

1973

• The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell — difficulty 60/100, about 10 hours
• The Dressmaker by Beryl Bainbridge — shortlist
• A Green Equinox by Elizabeth Mavor — shortlist
• The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch — shortlist

1972

• G. by John Berger — difficulty 62/100, about 7.2 hours
• The Bird of Night by Susan Hill — shortlist
• The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith by Thomas Keneally — shortlist
• Pasmore by David Storey — shortlist

1971

• In a Free State by V. S. Naipaul — difficulty 64/100, about 7.7 hours
• The Big Chapel by Thomas Kilroy — shortlist
• Briefing for a Descent into Hell by Doris Lessing — shortlist
• St. Urbain's Horseman by Mordecai Richler — shortlist
• Goshawk Squadron by Derek Robinson — shortlist
• Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor — shortlist

1970

• The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens — difficulty 71/100, about 8.4 hours
• John Brown's Body by A. L. Barker — shortlist
• Eva Trout by Elizabeth Bowen — shortlist
• Bruno's Dream by Iris Murdoch — shortlist
• Mrs. Eckdorf in O'Neill's Hotel by William Trevor — shortlist
• The Conjunction by Terence Wheeler — shortlist

1969

• Something to Answer For by P. H. Newby — difficulty 61/100, about 8.1 hours
• Figures in a Landscape by Barry England — shortlist
• Impossible Object by Nicholas Mosley — shortlist
• The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch — shortlist
• The Public Image by Muriel Spark — shortlist
• From Scenes like These by Gordon Williams — shortlist

Questions

Who is on the 2026 Booker Prize shortlist?

The End of Everything by M. John Harrison, The Disappearers by Marlon James, Black Bag by Luke Kennard, May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry, The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout and John of John by Douglas Stuart.

When is the 2026 Booker Prize winner announced?

On 9 November 2026.

Which book on the 2026 Booker Prize shortlist is the easiest to read?

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout, with a difficulty of 35/100 and about 3.5 hours of reading.

Who won the Booker Prize in 2025?

Flesh by David Szalay.

Which Booker Prize winner should I read first?

For the gentlest start, Flesh by David Szalay: the easiest of the winners to read, with a difficulty of 45/100 and about 5.3 hours of reading. For the quickest, Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald, about 2.9 hours.

Which Booker Prize winner is the hardest to read?

The Sellout by Paul Beatty, with a difficulty of 85/100; it takes about 13 hours.

Who has won the Booker Prize more than once?

J. M. Coetzee (1983 and 1999), Peter Carey (1988 and 2001), Margaret Atwood (2000 and 2019) and Hilary Mantel (2009 and 2012).

How long would it take to read every Booker Prize winner?

About 646 hours at an average reading pace.

Winners from Wikipedia, checked 2026-10-30.

Other prizes: Nobel Prize in Literature, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, International Booker Prize, National Book Award for Fiction, Women's Prize for Fiction, Hugo Award for Best Novel, Nebula Award for Best Novel, Prix Goncourt, Dublin Literary Award, PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, National Book Award for Nonfiction, Costa Novel Award, Albert J. Beveridge Award, Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction. Every literary prize; every winner of 2026.