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Roddy Doyle announced as chair of judges for the Booker Prize 2025
Irish author Roddy Doyle has become the first Booker Prize winner to chair the judging panel for the prize.
The judging panel for the Booker Prize 2025 also features Booker Prize-longlisted authors Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ and Kiley Reid, as well as actor and producer Sarah Jessica Parker and writer Chris Power.
The judges have been announced just as the prize has opened for submissions from publishers. They are looking for the long-form fiction by writers of any nationality, written in English and published in the UK or Ireland between 1st October 2024 and 30th September 2025.
"For more than 40 years, I’ve been writing novels, or editing novels, or thinking about the next novel," Doyle said. "For longer still—since my mother taught me how to read—I’ve filled hours of every day with novels [...]. 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."
Gaby Wood, chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, added: "We’ve never before had three Booker authors on the panel. Roddy, the first past Booker winner to chair the judges, has already brought generosity, wit and calm to the process, and I have no doubt that he will draw together this stellar crowd as they seek the best fiction of the year. Ayọ̀bámi and Kiley, both past longlistees and very different writers, are perfectly placed to identify a cohort following in their footsteps. I’ve long admired Chris’s acuity and taste, and have in recent months enjoyed sharing book recommendations with Sarah Jessica, who has passionately supported contemporary fiction for many years."
The "Booker Dozen" of 12 or 13 books will be announced next July, with the shortlist of six books to follow in September, and the winner will be announced in November and receive £50,000, as well as the £2,500 awarded to each of the six shortlisted authors.
