The Booker Prize 2025 longlist is announced
Thirteen novels, including new work by Kiran Desai, Tash Aw and David Szalay, made the 2025 Booker Prize longlist chosen by a panel chaired by Roddy Doyle.
The longlist for the 2025 Booker Prize was announced on 29 July 2025. The panel was chaired by Roddy Doyle, who won the prize in 1993, and also included Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, Chris Power, Kiley Reid and Sarah Jessica Parker.
The thirteen books were Love Forms by Claire Adam, The South by Tash Aw, Universality by Natasha Brown, One Boat by Jonathan Buckley, Flashlight by Susan Choi, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai, Audition by Katie Kitamura, The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits, The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller, Endling by Maria Reva, Flesh by David Szalay, Seascraper by Benjamin Wood and Misinterpretation by Ledia Xhoga.
Two of the books were debuts: Endling and Misinterpretation. Kiran Desai, who won in 2006 with The Inheritance of Loss, returned with her first novel since. Independent publishers were well represented, with Faber, Fitzcarraldo Editions and Daunt Books Originals all among the imprints listed. The winner was due to be announced on 10 November 2025.
A longlist of thirteen does more work than a shortlist of six. It sends readers towards books they might not otherwise find, and it gives smaller presses a moment of attention that is hard to buy. Writers looking at the list will notice that most of the names had long careers behind them, which says something about how slowly recognition tends to arrive.
Sources: NPR: Here are the 13 books that made the Booker Prize longlist; Wikipedia: 2025 Booker Prize.