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- The Man Booker Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world.
- The Prize is awarded to what is, in the judges' opinion, the best novel of the year written in English and published in the UK. There's also an international award for books translated into English.
- It's a great way to find the best books of the year, without having to read through hundreds of titles on your own. Below, you'll find the five winners of the last five years, as well as the six titles shortlisted each year.
The Man Booker Prize is one of the literary world's most prestigious awards - and perhaps the one best equipped to help you find your next great read.
To win the Man Booker Prize is to be declared the best fiction book of the year that was written in English and published in the UK and Ireland by a panel of judges meant to represent every side of the book world. In the past, that means that judges haven't been confined to "any in-group of literary critics, authors, and academics," but purposefully handpicked for a tribunal that more accurately represents the "common man" at large - including poets, politicians, journalists, broadcasters, and actors.
Such an endorsement - and the £50,000 prize money awarded to first place - transforms an author's life and career. It correlates with a worldwide audience, drastically increased book sales, and something closer to financial freedom.
For readers, it's also a great place to find your next great read. Instead of thumbing through stacks of books on your own to figure out the top 1%, you can leave the work up to the professionals and reap the benefits of their consensus: the best book of the year, and the six shortlisted titles falling closely behind it.
Below, you'll find the 30 titles shortlisted or ranked number one in the last five years. The 2019 selections will be released later this year: the longlist on July 24, the shortlist on September 3, and the winner on October 14, 2019.
Captions provided by Amazon and lightly edited for length.
