International Booker Prize facts for kids
Quick facts for kids International Booker Prize |
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Inaugural winner Ismail Kadare
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| Presented by | Booker Prize Foundation |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Reward | £50,000 |
| First awarded | 2005 |
The International Booker Prize is a special award for books from all over the world. It celebrates amazing stories that have been translated into English. This important literary award is given out in the United Kingdom.
The award started in 2005. At first, it was given every two years to an author for all their books, not just one. It honored writers who showed great creativity and made a big impact on fiction globally.
Since 2016, the prize has changed. Now, it is given every year to one fantastic novel or collection of short stories. The book must be translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland. The winner receives £50,000, which is shared equally between the author and the person who translated the book.
A group called Crankstart, founded by Sir Michael Moritz and his wife Harriet Heyman, started supporting the prize in 2019. They believe reading books brings "insights, discoveries, pleasures and joy." The prize helps share wonderful stories with more readers around the world.
Contents
Discovering the International Booker Prize
How the Prize Started (Before 2016)
Before 2016, the International Booker Prize was different from the regular Booker Prize. The regular prize was only for writers from certain countries. But the International Prize was open to authors from any country! Their books just needed to be available in English.
This early version of the prize gave £60,000 to a living author every two years. It celebrated all the books an author had written, much like the Nobel Prize for Literature. If a winning book was translated, the author could give £15,000 to their translator.
The very first winner in 2005 was Ismail Kadare from Albania. Many people thought this new prize was becoming very important in the world of books.
| Year | Author | Country | Translator | Language | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Ismail Kadare |  Albania |
N/A | Albanian | |
| 2007 | Chinua Achebe |  Nigeria |
N/A | English | |
| 2009 | Alice Munro |  Canada |
N/A | English | |
| 2011 | Philip Roth |  United States |
N/A | English | |
| 2013 | Lydia Davis | United States |
N/A | English | |
| 2015 | László Krasznahorkai |  Hungary |
George Szirtes and Ottilie Mulzet | Hungarian |
Exciting Changes Since 2016
In July 2015, a big change happened. Another award, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, joined forces with the International Booker Prize. This meant the International Booker Prize became an annual event, happening every year.
From 2016, the prize started focusing on a single book. It now celebrates amazing fiction books that have been translated into English. This helps more people discover wonderful stories from different cultures. It also highlights the important work of translators.
The £50,000 prize is split between the author and translator. Each shortlisted author and translator also receives £2,500. Judges select a longlist of 12 or 13 books in March, followed by a shortlist of six in April. The winner is announced in May.
| Year | Author | Home country | Translator | Translation published in (country) | Work | Language | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Han Kang |  South Korea |
Deborah Smith | United Kingdom | The Vegetarian 채식주의자 |
Korean | |
| 2017 | David Grossman |  Israel |
Jessica Cohen | Israel/UK/US | A Horse Walks into a Bar סוס אחד נכנס לבר |
Hebrew | |
| 2018 | Olga Tokarczuk |  Poland |
Jennifer Croft | United States | Flights Bieguni |
Polish | |
| 2019 | Jokha al-Harthi |  Oman |
Marilyn Booth | United States | Celestial Bodies سيدات القمر |
Arabic | |
| 2020 | Marieke Lucas Rijneveld |  Netherlands |
Michele Hutchison | United Kingdom | The Discomfort of Evening De avond is ongemak |
Dutch | |
| 2021 | David Diop |  France |
Anna Moschovakis | United States | At Night All Blood Is Black Frère d'âme |
French | |
| 2022 | Geetanjali Shree |  India |
Daisy Rockwell | United States | Tomb of Sand रेत समाधि |
Hindi | |
| 2023 | Georgi Gospodinov |  Bulgaria |
Angela Rodel | United Kingdom/ United States | Time Shelter Времеубежище |
Bulgarian | |
| 2024 | Jenny Erpenbeck |  Germany |
Michael Hofmann | Germany | Kairos | German | |
| 2025 | Banu Mushtaq | India |
Deepa Bhasthi | India | Heart Lamp: Selected Stories ಎದೆಯ ಹಣತೆ |
Kannada | |
| 2026 | Yáng Shuāng-zǐ |  Taiwan |
Lin King | United Kingdom | Taiwan Travelogue 臺灣漫遊錄 |
Mandarin Chinese |
How Winners Are Chosen
Each year, a special group of judges is chosen for the International Booker Prize. These judges are often writers, critics, or experts in literature. They read many books from around the world that have been translated into English.
First, the judges create a "longlist" of about 12 or 13 books. This list is sometimes called "the Booker Dozen." Then, they carefully choose six books for the "shortlist." Finally, they pick one winning book and its translator. The judges often talk about what makes the winning book so special and why they chose it.
For example, when Ismail Kadare won in 2005, the head judge said he was "a universal writer in the tradition of storytelling that goes back to Homer." In 2016, when The Vegetarian by Han Kang won, the judges called it a "compact, exquisite and disturbing book" that would stay with readers.
In 2024, Jenny Erpenbeck became the first German writer to win the prize for her novel Kairos. The judges noted that the shortlisted books explored important topics like racism, global violence, and environmental issues. In 2025, Banu Mushtaq's Heart Lamp: Selected Stories became the first book translated from Kannada to win. Most recently, in 2026, Yáng Shuāng-zǐ's Taiwan Travelogue was the first book by a Taiwanese author and in Traditional Mandarin to win.
See also
In Spanish: Premio International Booker para niños
- Booker Prize
- List of literary awards
