The shortlist is in: six remarkable books are vying for the International Booker Prize 2025. This year’s selection spans seven countries – Denmark, England, France, Japan, Italy, India and Scotland – and for the first time ever, every shortlisted title is brought to you by an independent publisher. The winner will be revealed on 20 May at London’s Tate Modern – with the £50,000 prize shared equally between the winning author and translator/s – but why wait? Dive into the shortlist now and discover the stories everyone will be talking about…
Summaries from The Booker Prizes. Visit the website for more information | thebookerprizes.com
Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, translated from Italian by Sophie Hughes, published by Fitzcarraldo Editions
Perfection follows an expat millennial couple attempting to live their dream in Berlin, but finding themselves ground down by the inevitable disappointment of the modern world and the warped reality of social media. Anna and Tom are committed to their digital lives, and feel at home among the meticulously curated food and furniture photos they and their friends share daily, but gradually struggle to find meaning in their superficial existence.
Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi, published by And Other Stories
Mushtaq – an activist and lawyer – vividly captures the extraordinary everyday lives of marginalised Muslim women and girls in southern India, in 12 witty, vivid and heartbreaking stories, which were originally published between 1990 and 2023. Each of Mushtaq’s memorable characters – feisty daughters, audacious grandmothers, selfless mothers – are fighting to survive and thrive in a society where the odds are stacked firmly against them.
On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle, translated from Danish by Barbara J. Haveland, published by Faber
An antiquarian bookseller is trapped in a time loop, waking up each morning to find it’s always the 18th of November, day after day. The first part of a septology, the original Danish edition was self-published – translation rights have now been sold in over 20 countries. The Washington Post concluded: “If Samuel Beckett had written Groundhog Day it might read something like On the Calculation of Volume”.
Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix, translated from French by Helen Stevenson, published by Small Axes
Small Boat takes the true story of a group of migrants’ tragic attempt to cross the English Channel in a dinghy in 2021, which resulted in the deaths of 27 of those on board, and turns it into a shocking modern morality tale. It’s told largely from the point of view of a woman working for the French coastguard, who received – but rejected – the migrants’ desperate calls for help, and must now explain her actions to the authorities.
Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami, translated from Japanese by Asa Yoneda, published by Granta Books
Humans in the far-distant future find themselves on the edge of extinction – children are made in factories, while adults are watched over by AI beings known as Mothers. Leaping back and forth across thousands of years, the book asks bold questions about humanity’s strengths and flaws, and our collective resilience in the face of devastation.
A Leopard-Skin Hat by Anne Serre, translated from French by Mark Hutchinson, published by Lolli Editions
Serre captures the love and despair of an intense platonic friendship between the Narrator and his best friend from childhood, Fanny, who suffers from severe psychological problems. Through a series of fragments of memory that skip back and forth in time, the Narrator struggles to capture the essence of the enigmatic, contradictory Fanny, who always seems to remain just out of reach. Deeply moving, the book was written in the aftermath of the death of Serre’s younger sister.
