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 five full award years now, a ton of people have joined me in reading the 2020–2024 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 2025 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!

THIS MONTH’S BOOK SELECTION

In September, we’re reading Flashlight by Susan Choi.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHEN ARE WE READING EACH BOOK?

So glad you asked. Here’s the reading schedule (so far) and key dates for the 2025 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: July 30, 2025: Booker Prize longlist announced

    • August selection: Audition by Katie Kitamura. Zoom chat: 8/25

    • September selection: Flashlight by Susan Choi. Zoom chat: 9/29

  • Key date: September 23, 2025: Booker Prize shortlist announced

    • October selection: TBD once the shortlist is announced. Zoom chat: 10/27

    • November selection: TBD once the shortlist is announced. Zoom chat: 11/24

  • Key date: November 10, 2025: Booker Prize winner announced

    • December selection: TBD once the shortlist is announced. Zoom chat: 12/29

    • January selection: TBD once the shortlist is announced. Zoom chat: 1/26

    • February selection: TBD once the shortlist is announced. Zoom chat: 2/23

    • March selection: TBD once the shortlist is announced. Zoom chat: 3/30

    • April selection: TBD once the shortlist is announced. Zoom chat: 4/27

    • May selection: TBD once the shortlist is announced. Zoom chat: 5/18

      • NOTE: This meeting is a week early due to Memorial Day.

    • June selection: TBD once the shortlist is announced. Zoom chat: 6/29

    • July selection: TBD once the shortlist is announced. Zoom chat: 7/27

  • Late July/early August 2026: Next year’s Booker Prize longlist announced

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:

And here’s a playlist of all the audiobooks on Libro.fm:

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 bookstore in England called Blackwells. They ship to the US and many other countries for free! (Also, they have the best bookmarks.)

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