Summary

Moment David Szalay wins Booker Prize 2025

Live Reporting

Edited by Emily McGarvey, with Rachel Flynn reporting from the awards ceremony

  1. The nominees: A 'geopolitical thriller' and a much-awaited follow-up

    Ian Youngs
    Culture reporter

    Susan Choi at a premiere at the Toronto Film FestivalDarren Eagles/WireImage

    Susan Choi began her career as a fact checker for The New Yorker

    We'll take you through the nominees in the next few posts:

    Susan Choi - Flashlight

    Choi's sixth novel starts with a 10-year-old girl taking a walk on a beach with her father, then waking up alone on the shore, with her dad presumed drowned. As she tries to piece together what happened, the story jumps across generations and locations, from Japan to America and North Korea.

    The judges say: It's "a family drama and geopolitical thriller about a fascinating episode from history", adding: "This is one of those books that completely dominates your thoughts."

    Kiran Desai - The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny

    Desai won the Booker for The Inheritance of Loss in 2006, and is back with its long-awaited follow-up. Its 650 pages deliver an epic tale about love, ambition, family and belonging after two Indian writers who have settled in the US reconnect on an overnight train.

    The judges say: "It's an intimate and expansive epic about two people finding a pathway to love and each other", adding: "Rich in meditations about class, race and nationhood, this book has it all."

  2. Get in touch: What have you enjoyed reading this year?

    Rachel Flynn
    Live reporter

    A black banner which says 'Your voice your BBC News'

    All this talk of books has got me thinking what's next on my to-be-read list - and we want to hear your recommendations.

    What have you enjoyed reading this year, and why?

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  3. 'A dream come true' - Sarah Jessica Parker reflects on being a judge

    Sex and the City actress Sarah Jessica Parker is at the ceremony tonight in London and tells the BBC it has been a "dream come true" to be on the judging panel.

    "It has just been the privilege of a lifetime, really, truly," Parker says. "I can't have imaged what this adventure has been - but it has just been so hugely rich and so wonderful.

    "I have had the best people to work alongside, I have learned so much, I've been exposed to so much great writing.

    "It is such a special thing to be invited in and have all of these great writers' works in our hand and have the responsibility to try to get it all right."

    Judge Sarah Jessica Parker attends The Booker Prize 2025 Ceremony at Old BillingsgateGetty Images

  4. Who's on the shortlist?

    The six nominees for the year's coveted Booker Prize are:

    • Susan Choi - Flashlight
    • Katie Kitamura - Audition
    • Ben Markovits - The Rest of Our Lives
    • Kiran Desai - The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
    • Andrew Miller - The Land in Winter
    • David Szalay - Flesh

    We'll bring you more on the nominees shortly.

  5. What is the Booker Prize?

    (L to R seated) Ben Markovits, Katie Kitamura, David Szalay, Kiran Desai. (Standing) Susan Choi, Andrew Miller, attending the Booker Prize shortlisted authors 2025 photocall,Getty Images

    The shortlisted authors from left to right seated: Ben Markovits, Katie Kitamura, David Szalay, Kiran Desai. Standing: Susan Choi and Andrew Miller

    The Booker Prize rewards what a panel of five judges considers the best work of long form fiction of the year.

    It's open to works written in English by authors anywhere in the world and published in the UK or Ireland.

    The winner walks away with £50,000 and the six shortlisted authors receive £2,500. Before the shortlist, there's a longlist of 12 or 13 each year.

    The Booker Prize was first awarded in 1969 with the aim to encourage the reading and discussion of fiction.

    Only 11 years ago did it become open to all nationalities. Before then, it was only open to authors from Commonwealth countries, Ireland and Zimbabwe,

    J.M. Coetzee, who was the first person to win the award twice, called the prize "the ultimate prize to win in the English speaking world".

  6. Booker Prize 2025 to be decided from 'brilliantly human' shortlist

    Rachel Flynn
    Reporting from the Booker Prize awards ceremony

    This year's Booker Prize judges sat down with a pile of the Booker Prize longestThe Booker Prize Foundation

    This year's Booker Prize judging panel

    Hello and welcome from a very glitzy affair at the Old Billingsgate in London, where the prestigious Booker Prize 2025 winner will soon be announced.

    The annual literary fiction prize, open to authors from around the world, will be chosen from a shortlist of six books - we'll bring you more on these shortly.

    They've been whittled down from 153 submissions, and have been read three times by a panel of five judges - including Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker.

    Chair of the judging panel Roddy Doyle says the nominated books are "all brilliantly written and they are all brilliantly human". But only one will take home the coveted prize.

    You'll be able to watch the ceremony live at the top of the page at 21:30 GMT, or you can listen to it live on BBC Radio 4's Front Row on BBC Sounds.

    Stick with us for all you need to know about this year's awards.