The history of The International Booker Prize

The International Booker Prize is awarded annually for a single fiction book from around the world, translated into English and published in the UK and Ireland.

The Booker Prizes recognise the finest work in fiction, whether that work was originally written in English (the Booker Prize) or translated into English (the International Booker Prize). This ensures that Booker honours and celebrates fiction on a truly global basis.

The International Booker Prize was introduced in 2005 as the Man Booker International Prize and was awarded to a body of work every other year. Initially, there was no rule that the work should be written in a language other than English. Early winners of the prize therefore include writers like Alice Munro, Lydia Davis and Philip Roth, as well as Ismali Kadare and Laszlo Krasznahorkai. 

Above: previous winners of The International Booker Prize.

However, in 2015, after the original Booker Prize updated their rules to allow writers of all nationalities to enter -  as long as their books were written in English and published in the UK - the International Prize evolved to annually award a piece of fiction written in another language and translate into English.

 This prize celebrates the vital work of translators and aims to encourage people to read more fiction from all over the world. The winning author and translator equally share the £50,000 prize money, with each shortlisted author and translator also receiving £2,500.

If you liked this post then read How do you get on The New York Times Best Seller List? or Think piece: is discrimination necessary for works of fiction? next. 

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