Irish author and 1993 Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle has been announced as the chair of the 2025 judging panel for The Booker Prize.
Doyle is joined by Sarah Jessica Parker on the panel, as well as Booker Prize-longlisted novelist Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀; writer, broadcaster, and literary critic Chris Power; and New York Times bestselling and Booker Prize-longlisted author Kiley Reid.
This panel of judges will look for the best work of long-form fiction by writers of any nationality, written in English and published in the UK and/or Ireland between October 1, 2024, and September 30, 2025.
The ‘Booker Dozen’ of 12 or 13 books will be announced next July, with the shortlist of six books to follow in September.
The winner of the Booker Prize 2025 will be announced in November, with the winner receiving £50,000, as well as the £2,500 awarded to each of the six shortlisted authors.
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Commenting, Doyle said: "For more than 40 years, I’ve been writing novels, or editing novels, or thinking about the next novel.
"For longer still – since my mother taught me how to read – I’ve filled hours of every day with novels, reading them, re-reading them, just gazing at them. 'His head was never out of the books' is two-thirds of my biography.
"So, to have licence to do little else but read the year’s best novels, to find the familiar in the unfamiliar, to examine the remarkable, unique things that great writers can do with the shared language, English – I can’t wait.
"I’m looking forward to working with a great panel of judges. I’ve never been in a book club before, but I think I’m probably joining a good one."
Parker, who shares a holiday home with her husband Matthew Broderick in Co Donegal, may seem like an unlikely choice for the prestigious judging panel, but the Booker Prize has outlined the actor-producer-publisher's impressive qualifications.
Parker, who has won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards, launched her own literary imprint SJP Lit in 2023 in partnership with independent publisher Zando.
SJP Lit is dedicated to publishing thought-provoking, big-hearted stories inclusive of international and underrepresented voices, Booker Prize notes. Recent titles include "They Dream in Gold" by Mai Sennaar, Alina Grabowski’s "Women and Children First," Elysha Chang’s "A Quitter’s Paradise," and "Coleman Hill," written by Kim Coleman Foote.
Prior to SJP Lit, Parker served as Editorial Director of the literary imprint SJP for Hogarth, publishing the New York Times bestseller "A Place For Us" by Fatima Farheen Mirza, winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize; "Golden Child" by Claire Adam; and "Dawn, "the critically acclaimed story collection by the jailed Turkish politician and human rights lawyer Selahattin Demirtas.
Parker has additionally served as Honorary Chair of the American Library Association’s online reading resource platform Central Book Club, and as a board member of the nonprofit organisation United for Libraries.
"Reading fiction is the gateway to other cultures, traditions, smells, sounds, personal triumphs and disappointments," Parker said.
"It is the transport to empathy, compassion, and greater understanding of lives wonderfully different from my own."
Parker has touted several Irish works on social media, recently highlighting Sally Rooney's "Intermezzo," Colin Barrett's "Wild Houses," Michael Magee's "Close to Home," and Paul Murray's "The Bee Sting."
Six Irish authors have won the Booker Prize, the most recent being in 2023 when Paul Lynch won for his book "Prophet Song."
Lynch was among four Irish authors who made the Booker Prize longlist in 2023 - Sebastian Barry for "Old God’s Time," Elaine Feeney for "How to Build a Boat," and Paul Murray for "The Bee Sting."
This year, Irish author Colin Barrett made the longlist with his book "Wild Houses," but did not ultimately make the shortlist.
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