The longlist for the International Booker Prize 2025 is announced!
The list ‘shows what the world is thinking’ and features authors and translators representing 15 nationalities
The longlist for this year’s International Booker Prize, which celebrates the best works of long-form fiction or collections of short stories translated into English, is announced today.
The 13 books – 11 novels and two collections of short stories – feature 13 authors making their International Booker Prize debut, many of whom are literary sensations and award-winners in their home countries, and three previously longlisted translators.
The books on this year’s longlist are as follows:
The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem, translated from Arabic by Sinan Antoon
On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle, translated from Danish by Barbara J. Haveland
There's a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem, translated from French by Karen Fleetwood and Laëtitia Saint-Loubert
Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu, translated from Romanian by Sean Cotter
Reservoir Bitches by Dahlia de la Cerda, translated from Spanish by Heather Cleary and Julia Sanches
Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix, translated from French by Helen Stevenson
Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, translated from Japanese by Polly Barton
Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami, translated from Japanese by Asa Yoneda
Eurotrash by Christian Kracht, translated from German by Daniel Bowles
Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, translated from Italian by Sophie Hughes
Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi
On a Woman's Madness by Astrid Roemer, translated from Dutch by Lucy Scott
A Leopard-Skin Hat by Anne Serre, translated from French by Mark Hutchinson
From sexual desire and disability to the overnight disappearance of Palestinian people; from a tragedy in the English Channel to a 20th-century queer classic; from stories spanning thousands of years to a single, constantly-repeating day – the longlist features 13 books that are, in the words of Max Porter, Chair of the 2025 judges, ‘from everywhere, for everyone’. Discover everything you need to know about the longlist, and which book is for you, at thebookerprizes.com.
Max Porter, International Booker Prize 2025 Chair of judges, says:
‘In these books people are sharing strategies for survival; they are cheating, lying, joking and innovating. Some people are no longer of this earth, or they are sending visions from the future or from parallel universes. These books bring us into the agony of family, workplace or nation-state politics, the near-spiritual secrecy of friendship, the inner architecture of erotic feeling, the banality of capitalism and the agitations of faith.
‘As a group of judges, we’ve been amazed at how differently we read, and we’ve come to adore that difference. We celebrate it, and we joyfully invite readers to join us. Bring your own difference to this list, we guarantee you will find much you recognise, but with any luck more you don’t recognise yet.’
What the judges said about each book on the longlist
The longlist has been chosen by the 2025 judging panel, chaired by bestselling Booker Prize-longlisted author Max Porter. Porter is joined by prize-winning poet, director and photographer Caleb Femi; writer and Publishing Director of Wasafiri Sana Goyal; author and International Booker Prize-shortlisted translator Anton Hur; and award-winning singer-songwriter Beth Orton. Here, we asked our judges to tell us why they loved each book on the list.
The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem, translated from Arabic by Sinan Antoon
‘Speculative and haunting, this is an exceptional exercise in memory-making and psycho-geography. The premise – the overnight disappearance of all Palestinians – is audacious and shocking.’
On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle, translated from Danish by Barbara. J Haveland
‘It takes a familiar narrative trope – a protagonist inexplicably stuck in the same day – and transforms it into a profound meditation on love, connectedness and what it means to exist.'
There's a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem, translated from French by Karen Fleetwood and Laëtitia Saint-Loubert
‘In prose that throbs with verve, humour and pain, this story set on the island of Réunion brings to life a narrator beset with the history of her family and her people.'
Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu, translated from Romanian by Sean Cotter
‘A mind-boggling and ceaselessly entertaining book that seems to be about everything. It transports us from Communist Romania to the far sci-fi reaches of the imagination.’
Reservoir Bitches by Dahlia de la Cerda, translated from Spanish by Heather Cleary and Julia Sanches
‘A blisteringly urgent collection of interconnected stories about contemporary Mexican women. Extremely funny but deadly serious, it absolutely bangs from the first page to the last.’
Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix, translated from French by Helen Stevenson
‘After 27 people die when their dinghy capsizes in the Channel, the book’s French narrator attempts to clear her conscience. A gut-punch of a novel that asks: could we all do better?’
Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, translated from Japanese by Polly Barton
'Featuring a protagonist who lives in a care home near Tokyo, this unashamed, unflinching and subversive novel defiantly dismantles assumptions about disability and desire.’
Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami, translated from Japanese by Asa Yoneda
'With crystalline clarity, it tells the story of humanity’s evolution on an epic scale, travelling as far into the future as our imagination could possibly allow.'
Eurotrash by Christian Kracht, translated from German by Daniel Bowles
‘The bitterly funny account of a writer driving his crotchety, senile mother through the landscape outside Zurich. One of the most entertaining and moving stories we read.’
Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, translated from Italian by Sophie Hughes
‘An astute, cringe-making and often laugh-out-loud funny portrait of everyday privilege and modern aspirations, following an expat couple in Berlin. Startlingly refreshing.’
Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi
‘Exploring the lives of those often on the periphery of society – girls and women in Muslim communities in southern India – these vivid stories hold immense emotional and moral weight.’
On a Woman's Madness by Astrid Roemer, translated from Dutch by Lucy Scott
‘A modern classic set in Suriname, and a testament to the resilience of queer lives everywhere. A story of love, survival and freedom, woven with an artistically accomplished touch.’
A Leopard-Skin Hat by Anne Serre, translated from French by Mark Hutchinson
‘A deeply romantic yet platonic love story between the narrator and his complicated childhood friend, a story so beautifully realised that the pair become part of the life of the reader.’
Which books on the International Booker Prize 2025 longlist will you add to your TBR pile? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below…!
So lovely to see a Kannada book made it to the longlist! Can’t wait to read all of these over the next couple of months
Hunchback, On A Woman's Madness, A Leopard-Skin Hat, There is a Monster Behind the Door.