The six finalists for the 2025 Booker Prize have been announced. They are:
- Flashlight (FSG) by Susan Choi (American)
- The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny (Hogarth) by Kiran Desai (Indian)
- Audition (Riverhead) by Katie Kitamura (American)
- The Rest of Our Lives (Faber & Faber, U.K. edition) by Ben Markovits (American)
- The Land in Winter (Sceptre, U.K. edition) by Andrew Miller (British)
- Flesh (Scribner) by David Szalay (Hungarian-British)
Among the finalists, Desai previously won the prize in 2006 for her novel The Inheritance of Loss, and this year's nominated novel is the her only book in the intervening period, nearly 20 years in the making. Miller and Szalay were both previously shortlisted, while Choi, Kitamura and Markovits are making their first appearance on the shortlist.
Author Roddy Doyle, who won the prize in 1993 for his novel Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, is serving as the head of the judging panel. He called the list "brilliantly written and brilliantly human" and said all the authors are "in total command of their own store of English, their own rhythm, their own expertise." The other judges are judges are Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, Sarah Jessica Parker, Chris Power, and Kiley Reid.
The winner will be announced on Monday, November 10 at a private reception. In addition to a significant increase in global sales, the winning author will take home £50,000.
