From Extract to Experience booker prize

 

What begins with a few pages often becomes a lifelong relationship. Many readers first discovered Booker-winning novels through a brief encounter: a magazine excerpt, a library browsing, a friend’s recommendation. The new initiative to publish longlist extracts online extends this possibility to a global scale.

Each extract acts as both an introduction and a promise — a glimpse of the full narrative and an invitation to continue. Some readers will be drawn by a lyrical voice, others by a daring structure, still others by a subject that feels uncomfortably relevant.

The extracts remind us that literature is not static. It moves from the page to the reader, and from the reader into the wider world of conversation, critique, and imagination.

As the 2025 Booker Prize progresses toward the shortlist and final announcement, these extracts ensure that the journey is shared not only by the judges but also by the countless readers who make literature live.