An array of books on this year's Booker Prize longlist.

Everything You Need to Know About Booker of the Month

The Booker Prize is arguably the most prestigious award in literary fiction, having recognized “the finest fiction” written in English over the last 50+ years. For some, the Booker Prize longlist, shortlist, and winner announcements are as exciting as any film or music award ceremony.

When the 2019 Booker Prize longlist was announced, I challenged myself to read them all over the following year, before the next year’s longlist was announced. It was one of the most fulfilling projects I’ve taken on as a reader. I was excited to do it all again for the 2020 longlist — but that time, I wanted to bring others along for the ride.

That’s how #BookeroftheMonth was born.

For three full award years now, a ton of people have joined me in reading the 2020–2022 longlists together. Many of us became friends along the way, including people I’d never have otherwise met! In short, it’s everything I could have hoped for. So now that we have the 2023 longlist, it’s time to go again.

HOW BOOKER OF THE MONTH WORKS

Booker of the Month is a monthly reading group that anyone can join. There are 13 books on each year’s Booker Prize longlist, so we read one a month (doubling up just once), which gets us all the way through the whole thing over the course of 12 months. Follow along, and you’ll have read the whole thing by the time next year’s list is announced!

Here’s how to get involved:

  • Follow me and the #BookerOfTheMonth hashtag on Instagram. Tag me and use the hashtag when you talk about the books. I’ll be resharing!

  • Join the StoryGraph book club to get future meeting reminders and chat asynchronously, and the reading challenge to track your progress through all the books.

  • Join our monthly Zoom discussions — register for the next one below!

Bonus: Join Literary Award Lounge, a discord server about book prizes that I co-host, to chat all things book prizes.

THIS MONTH’S BOOK SELECTION

In April, we’re reading The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHEN ARE WE READING EACH BOOK?

So glad you asked. Here’s the reading schedule and key dates for the 2023 longlist. We typically meet via Zoom on the last Monday of the month (unless holidays get in the way!) at 8 PM ET.

  • Key date: August 1, 2023: Booker Prize longlist announced

    • August selection: If I Survive You* by Jonathan Escoffery. Zoom chat: 8/28

    • September selection: The Bee Sting* by Paul Murray. Zoom chat: 9/25

  • Key date: September 21, 2023: Booker Prize shortlist announced

    • October selection: This Other Eden* by Paul Harding. Zoom chat: 10/30

    • November selection: Study for Obedience* by Sarah Bernstein. Zoom chat: 11/27

  • Key date: November 26, 2023: Booker Prize winner announced

    • December selection: Western Lane* by Chetna Maroo. Zoom chat: 12/18 (NOTE: This is early due to the holidays!)

    • January selection: Prophet Song* by Paul Lynch AND Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry (they are each less than 300 pages). Zoom chat: 1/29

    • February selection: How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney. Zoom chat: 2/26

    • March selection: A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀. Zoom chat: 3/25

    • April selection: The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng. Zoom chat: 4/29

    • May selection: All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow. Zoom chat: 5/20 (NOTE: This is early due to Memorial Day!)

    • June selection: In Ascension by Martin MacInnes (publishes in the US 2/27/24). Zoom chat: 6/24

    • July selection: Pearl by Siân Hughes (buy it from Blackwells in the UK and get free shipping to the US!). Zoom chat: 7/29

  • Late July–early August, 2024: Next year’s Booker Prize longlist announced

*shortlisted

DO I HAVE TO READ ALL THE BOOKS TO JOIN IN?

Definitely not. You don’t even have to follow our schedule. Already read one of them? (Already read all of them?) Fall a little behind? Only want to read some of the titles? You are welcome here!

HOW CAN I GET AHOLD OF THE BOOKS?

If you decide to purchase the books, I urge you to buy them from your local independent bookstore or Bookshop.org, which shares revenue with indies. I also rounded up the books available for order or pre-order in the US right now in a Bookshop collection:

Of course, you can also borrow the books from your local library. If your library doesn’t have one of the books, you can always contact them and request that they purchase a copy.

If a book hasn’t been published in your country yet, you can buy the UK edition from an incredible independent bookstore in England called Blackwells. They ship to the US and many other countries for free! (Also, they have the best bookmarks. Trust me.)

See you on Instagram! If you have any Q’s in the meantime, feel free to DM me. Happy reading!