Need A Book Club Selection? Turn to the Prestigious Booker Prize for the Finest in Fiction

Struggling to pick your next book club selection? Then check out the online resources and recommendations from 50 years of the The Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious fiction awards in the English speaking world.

The Booker Prize began as a way to raise the profile of contemporary English fiction, similar to what the Prix Goncourt prize did for works in French.

The prize is awarded to fiction originally written in English while its sibling award, The International Booker Prize, is for global works translated into English. For both, the books must have been published in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The first Booker Prize was awarded in 1969 and the international award was added in 2005.

Each year, Booker Prize Foundation staff select notable and accomplished individuals with a passion for the written word to serve as judges. Determining the prize winners is an arduous task and the judges dedicate a year of their life to reading and evaluating more then 150 nominated submissions from publishing houses. 

The judges read and read and read and then meet, debate and narrow their favorites down to the longlist of 13 books, dubbed the "Booker Dozen" (certainly a play on a "Baker's Dozen"). Then, they reread those 13, meet, debate and narrow their favorites down to a shortlist of six books. And, finally, a single winner is picked for each award. A cash prize goes to the winning authors followed by international acclaim (and a subsequent boost in book sales, known as the “Booker Bounce”). 

So, struggle no more when it comes to book club! All the resources you need for making the perfect selection are on The Booker Prizes website. It's a virtual cornucopia of the world's finest in fiction.

In addition to five decades of winning books and those that made the long and short lists, the online library also includes more than 700 books nominated for the prize since the competition began.

The website also has reading guides and detailed recommendations, including themed lists such as “Books with Plot Twists" and “Cosy Reads" (that's the British English spelling of cozy). Other website features include author spotlights, the history of the prizes (learn the connection to James Bond author, Ian Fleming) and so much more.

Enjoy your next page turner!