Awards Record

Literature (fiction in translation)

International Booker Prize: winners and how it is awarded

The International Booker Prize was established in 2005 as a lifetime achievement award given every two years, under the name Man Booker International Prize. Since 2016 it has been awarded each year for a novel or short story collection in English translation, with the money shared between author and translator.1,2,3

Awarded byBooker Prize Foundation
Established2005
FrequencyAnnual since 2016 (every two years from 2005 to 2015)
Prize value£50,000 for the winning book, split equally between author and translator. Each shortlisted book receives £5,000, split between author and translator (as of 2026-05-19 (2026 prize, as reported by NPR and Kirkus))

How the winner is chosen

A judging panel chooses a longlist, a shortlist and then a winner from novels and short story collections translated into English. The 2026 winner was announced in May 2026.

Winners

  1. 2026Yáng Shuāng-zǐ (author), Lin King (translator)2,3Taiwan Travelogue, translated from Mandarin Chinese
  2. 2025Banu Mushtaq (author), Deepa Bhasthi (translator)2,4Heart Lamp: Selected Stories, translated from Kannada
  3. 2024Jenny Erpenbeck (author), Michael Hofmann (translator)3,4Kairos, translated from German
  4. 2023Georgi Gospodinov (author), Angela Rodel (translator)1Time Shelter, translated from Bulgarian
  5. 2022Geetanjali Shree (author), Daisy Rockwell (translator)1Tomb of Sand, translated from Hindi
  6. 2021David Diop (author), Anna Moschovakis (translator)1At Night All Blood Is Black, translated from French
  7. 2020Marieke Lucas Rijneveld (author), Michele Hutchison (translator)1The Discomfort of Evening, translated from Dutch
  8. 2019Jokha Alharthi (author), Marilyn Booth (translator)1Celestial Bodies, translated from Arabic
  9. 2018Olga Tokarczuk (author), Jennifer Croft (translator)1Flights, translated from Polish
  10. 2017David Grossman (author), Jessica Cohen (translator)1A Horse Walks into a Bar, translated from Hebrew
  11. 2016Han Kang (author), Deborah Smith (translator)1The Vegetarian, translated from Korean

Notable facts

Before 2016 the prize was a lifetime achievement award given every two years, rather than an award for a single translated book.1

Kirkus Reviews says Taiwan Travelogue is the first book originally written in Mandarin to win the prize.3

Sources

  1. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Booker Prize (includes International Booker Prize table) (27 October 2026)
  2. NPR, 'Taiwan Travelogue' wins the 2026 International Booker Prize (19 May 2026)
  3. Kirkus Reviews, Winner of 2026 International Booker Prize revealed (20 May 2026)
  4. Wikipedia, International Booker Prize (27 October 2026)