The literary world turns its eyes towards London as the countdown begins for the 2025 Booker Prize announcement, with English author Andrew Miller emerging as the bookmakers' top pick to claim the prestigious award.
The Favourite and His Rivals
William Hill has installed Andrew Miller as the 6/4 favourite for his novel The Land in Winter. The book, set in 1960s England, intricately portrays two marriages buckling under the strain of postwar class divisions, professional dislocation, and emotional distance. Miller is no stranger to the Booker spotlight, having been previously shortlisted in 2001 for his novel Oxygen.
Hot on his heels is the acclaimed Indian author Kiran Desai, given odds of 2/1 for The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. This marks Desai's first novel in nearly twenty years, a sprawling nearly 700-page work that follows the lives of two young Indians navigating life in the United States around the turn of the millennium. A victory would see Desai join an elite group, becoming only the fifth author to win the Booker Prize twice, following in the footsteps of J.M. Coetzee, Peter Carey, Margaret Atwood, and Hilary Mantel. Her first win was in 2006 for The Inheritance of Loss.
A Late Surge and the Full Shortlist
The betting landscape has seen a significant late shift with Hungarian-British writer David Szalay. His novel, Flesh, which charts a decades-spanning rags-to-riches story set between Hungary and London, has shortened from 4/1 to 9/4, making him a serious contender.
The complete shortlist for the 2025 prize is a diverse collection of literary talent:
- Susan Choi with the family saga Flashlight
- Katie Kitamura with the psychological study Audition
- Ben Markovits with the midlife road-trip novel The Rest of Our Lives
A Tight Race for Literary Glory
Lee Phelps, a spokesperson for William Hill, commented on the competitiveness of this year's award. "This year's Booker prize remains an open race ahead of Monday's announcement, with Andrew Miller edging Kiran Desai as the favourite at 6/4," he said. "The 2006 winner Desai is only just behind... This year's field is looking remarkably tight, with little to split the six contenders."
The winner will be revealed on Monday evening in London. The victorious author will receive a £50,000 prize and can expect a monumental boost to their international profile and book sales. The judging panel for this year's award is chaired by Irish writer Roddy Doyle and includes actor Sarah Jessica Parker and writers Chris Power, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, and Kiley Reid. They considered 153 submitted novels before settling on the final six.
Founded in 1969, the Booker Prize is awarded annually for the best original novel written in English and published in the UK or Ireland. The most recent winner was Samantha Harvey, who took the 2024 award for her space-station novel Orbital.
