The Booker Prize 2025 Shortlist Announcement
Back in 2017, when I was tentatively beginning to share book reviews online, I received one of my very first proofs from a brand-new publishing imprint; A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza, the inaugural title from Sarah Jessica Parker’s UK-based SJP for Hogarth. It was a quiet, emotionally expansive novel about family, belonging, and the intricacies of love.
Since then, what started as a passion project has blossomed into something far greater than I imagined. I’ve launched my own literary website, co-host a book club here in Bath, and have had the privilege of attending festivals, interviewing authors, and building a wonderful community of readers online. So it felt like a full circle moment for me to be invited to attend last night’s 2025 Booker Prize shortlist announcement. Listening to the 2025 Booker Prize judges - including Sarah Jessica Parker - speak with such eloquence and admiration for literature was truly captivating.
Held at London’s Southbank centre, in a room filled with writers, critics, publishers, and lovers of literature, the event was a celebration of the power of storytelling at its most ambitious. The Booker is not just a prize; it’s a reflection of the literary moment and of a multitude of voices pushing the form forward.
As the judges took to the stage, they offered candid and fascinating insight into the intense process of reading, debating, and ultimately selecting this year’s shortlist. With hundreds of eligible novels and only six slots available, the choices represent not just excellence, but diversity of style, theme, voice, and perspective.
Since then, what started as a passion project has blossomed into something far greater than I imagined. I’ve launched my own literary website, co-host a book club here in Bath, and have had the privilege of attending festivals, interviewing authors, and building a wonderful community of readers online. So it felt like a full circle moment for me to be invited to attend last night’s 2025 Booker Prize shortlist announcement. Listening to the 2025 Booker Prize judges - including Sarah Jessica Parker - speak with such eloquence and admiration for literature was truly captivating.
Held at London’s Southbank centre, in a room filled with writers, critics, publishers, and lovers of literature, the event was a celebration of the power of storytelling at its most ambitious. The Booker is not just a prize; it’s a reflection of the literary moment and of a multitude of voices pushing the form forward.
As the judges took to the stage, they offered candid and fascinating insight into the intense process of reading, debating, and ultimately selecting this year’s shortlist. With hundreds of eligible novels and only six slots available, the choices represent not just excellence, but diversity of style, theme, voice, and perspective.
Each judge spoke with urgency and care. Not just about the books themselves, but also about the responsibility they felt toward the literary community. The shortlist of six novels was announced during the event, having been selected by the 2025 judging panel, chaired by critically acclaimed writer and 1993 Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle. Doyle’s fellow judges are Booker-Prize longlisted novelist Ayôbámi Adébáyò; award-winning actor, producer and publisher Sarah Jessica Parker; writer, broadcaster and literary critic Chris Power; and New York Times bestselling and Booker Prize-longlisted author Kiley Reid.
Though the shortlist is always met with curiosity and debate (and sometimes, controversy), this year’s list feels particularly vital. To be in the room as these works were celebrated was not only thrilling but affirming. For all the noise that surrounds the publishing industry: the trends, the lists, and the algorithms - what matters most is still the story, and the reader who receives it. These six novels reflect the multiplicity of contemporary fiction today. They ask questions about power, memory, migration, grief, joy, and the fragility of connection. In different ways, they each stretch the possibilities of the novel as a form. As I look ahead to reading through the 2025 shortlist, I carry with me a renewed sense of gratitude for literature and for the community that surrounds it.
No matter if you're judging the Booker or just lost in a novel on the sofa, that quiet magic is always there.
Huge thanks to the Booker Prizes for inviting me along last night!
Though the shortlist is always met with curiosity and debate (and sometimes, controversy), this year’s list feels particularly vital. To be in the room as these works were celebrated was not only thrilling but affirming. For all the noise that surrounds the publishing industry: the trends, the lists, and the algorithms - what matters most is still the story, and the reader who receives it. These six novels reflect the multiplicity of contemporary fiction today. They ask questions about power, memory, migration, grief, joy, and the fragility of connection. In different ways, they each stretch the possibilities of the novel as a form. As I look ahead to reading through the 2025 shortlist, I carry with me a renewed sense of gratitude for literature and for the community that surrounds it.
No matter if you're judging the Booker or just lost in a novel on the sofa, that quiet magic is always there.
Huge thanks to the Booker Prizes for inviting me along last night!
