For over 50 years, the Booker Prizes have celebrated the world’s most outstanding fiction, whether written in or translated into English.
Each month they’ll be a shining a spotlight on a different book from the Booker Library, and sharing reading guides, extracts, opinion pieces and competitions.
You can find out more about the Prize here.
We will be sharing the Booker Book of the Month picks every month for you to enjoy.
Introducing the Booker Prizes May Book of the Month: The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing
In 1985, Doris Lessing was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for her compelling contemporary satire about the contradictions and self-delusion at the heart of political idealism.
Set in 1980s London, a loose-knit group of political vagabonds form an ill-defined and volatile underground. Drifting from one cause to the next, they occupy abandoned houses, demonstrate and picket, devise strategies to fit situations that may or may not arise. But, within this world, one small group of men and women – whose deepest conviction seems to rest in a sense of their own largely untested radicalism – is moving inexorably toward active terrorism.
Read and extract from The Good Terrorist.
There is also a reading guide for The Good Terrorist which contains several discussion points for reading groups if you want to read and discuss the book together.
You can also join the Substack where you can share your views on the Book of the Month with other readers.
Previous Booker Prizes Book of the Month
In April, Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel was selected as the Book of the Month.
In March, the Booker Prizes chose Hanya Yanagihara’s second novel, A Little Life to focus on. Find out more about their first Book of the Month today.
The International Booker Prize 2023 Shortlist
The International Booker Prize, which highlights fiction from all five continents, translated into English, continues to build in global importance every year.
The winners’ prize purse is £50,000; £25,000 for the author and £25,000 for the translator (or divided equally between multiple translators).
Last month, the Booker Prizes announced the ‘subversive and sensual’ shortlist for the International Booker Prize 2023. Find out more. Download the reading guides for the shortlist.
Get involved
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Keep up with all the latest news on the Booker Prize website.
