Historic Firsts and Global Horizons Booker Prize Updates 2025

The Booker Prize continues to champion stories that expand the boundaries of literature, celebrating voices from around the world. In recent weeks, two landmark announcements have set the stage for an exceptional year in storytelling.

Heart Lamp wins the 2025 International Booker Prize

History was made this year as Banu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp: Selected Stories, translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi, was awarded the 2025 International Booker Prize.

It is the first time that a work of short fiction — and the first ever from Kannada — has won the prize. The judges praised Heart Lamp for its profound storytelling, describing it as “a work of rare clarity that captures both the intimacy of individual lives and the universal patterns of human experience.”

Translator Deepa Bhasthi, who shares the £50,000 prize equally with the author, becomes the first Indian translator to win the award. Her rendering of Mushtaq’s work has been acclaimed for “illuminating Kannada literature with a voice that feels both local and global.”

This historic win reflects the Booker’s commitment to honouring literature that transcends language, borders and form.

The 2025 Booker Prize longlist: A new era of storytelling

On 29 July 2025, the longlist for the Booker Prize 2025 was revealed: 13 outstanding novels, representing nine nationalities across four continents — one of the most globally diverse selections in recent memory.

Among the notable names is Kiran Desai, returning to the Booker after nearly two decades. Winner of the 2006 Booker Prize for The Inheritance of Loss, she is longlisted this year for her much-anticipated new novel, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. Her reappearance signals a remarkable literary comeback and has drawn worldwide attention.

The longlist also features emerging talents alongside established authors, exploring themes ranging from migration and climate futures to technology, identity, and the shifting contours of human relationships. Collectively, the 2025 list signals a bold new chapter in the history of the prize.

Looking ahead

The shortlist of six titles will be announced on 23 September 2025 at the Royal Festival Hall in London, in an event open to the public.

The winner of the 2025 Booker Prize will be named on 10 November 2025, at a ceremony in London’s Old Billingsgate, which will also be livestreamed worldwide.

With Heart Lamp’s groundbreaking victory on the international stage, and a longlist that spans continents and perspectives, 2025 is already shaping up to be a defining year for the Booker Prize and for world literature.