The Book Show

Who will win the Booker Prize?

Nov 2, 2025
Join Susan Choi, an award-winning novelist, as she explores cross-cultural family dynamics and the Zainichi Korean community in Flashlight. Kiran Desai, a former Booker Prize winner, discusses loneliness and globalization in her long-gestating novel, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. David Szalay shares insights on capturing realism and physicality in Flesh, while Ben Markovits reveals how his own lymphoma diagnosis influenced the road-trip narrative of The Rest of Our Lives. A deep dive into themes of identity, illness, and the human experience awaits!
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INSIGHT

Booker’s Cultural And Commercial Power

  • The Booker Prize remains the most prestigious English-language literary award with major sales and reputation impact for winners and shortlistees.
  • Winning places authors alongside figures like Margaret Atwood and can be life-changing financially and reputationally.
ANECDOTE

A Beach Disappearance Sets The Plot

  • Susan Choi recounts Louisa waking alone on the beach soaking wet after a father-daughter outing and her father vanishing.
  • The father is presumed drowned but Choi hints there may be more to the disappearance.
INSIGHT

History Shapes Fictional Otherness

  • Susan Choi explains Flashlight grew from researching the Zainichi Koreans in Japan and their post-colonial dislocation.
  • She uses that history to explore otherness and complex cross-cultural identities through fiction.
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