Like many book lovers, I keep an eye on updates from literary prizes. I’m especially fond of the Booker Prize and the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Both are often reliable sources for good contemporary literature to add to your reading list. Some books that have been nominated or won these prizes that have been reviewed here are listed below.

The Booker Prize

I have a special fondness for the Booker because I think it saved contemporary literature for me. Before discovering the prize and the books it has acknowledged, my forays into contemporary lit had been very disappointing and I was beginning to think I should just stick to the classics. I have not always been wowed by their picks but it has certainly been more rewarding than otherwise. Booker Prize nominees and winners I have read and reviewed here are listed below.

Year	Placing	Title	Author
1977	Winner	Staying On	Paul Scott
1978	Winner	The Sea, the Sea	Iris Murdoch
1981	Winner	Midnight’s Children	Salman Rushdie
1983	Shortlisted	Shame	Salman Rushdie
1985	Winner	The Bone People	Keri Hulme
1986	Shortlisted	The Handmaid’s Tale	Margaret Atwood
1990	Winner	Possession	AS Byatt
1991	Shortlisted	Such A Long Journey	Rohinton Mistry
1996	Shortlisted	A Fine Balance	Rohinton Mistry
1997	Winner	The God of Small Things	Arundhati Roy
1998	Winner	Amsterdam	Ian McEwan
1999	Shortlisted	Fasting, Feasting	Anita Desai
2002	Shortlisted	Family Matters	Rohinton Mistry
2006	Winner	The Inheritance of Loss	Kiran Desai
2007	Shortlisted	Mister Pip	Lloyd Jones
2007	Shortlisted	The Reluctant Fundamentalist	Mohsin Hamid
2008	Longlisted	A Case of Exploding Mangoes	Mohammed Hanif
2008	Shortlisted	Sea of Poppies	Amitav Ghosh
2008	Winner	The White Tiger	Aravind Adiga
2009	Winner	Wolf Hall	Hilary Mantel
2011	Shortlisted	Half Blood Blues	Esi Edugyan
2011	Shortlisted	Pigeon English	Stephen Kelman
2011	Shortlisted	The Sisters Brothers	Patrick deWitt
2011	Winner	The Sense of an Ending	Julian Barnes
2012	Shortlisted	Narcopolis	Jeet Thayil
2012	Winner	Bring Up the Bodies	Hilary Mantel
2020	Longlisted	The Mirror and the Light	Hilary Mantel
2022	Winner	The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida	Shehan Karunatilaka

The Women’s Prize for Fiction

The Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly The Orange Prize, The Bailey’s Prize, etc) are a great source for compelling contemporary literature. The list of books I have read and reviewed here is short but sure to grow as I have many more on my shelves to read.

Year	Placing	Title	Author
2000	Shortlisted	Fasting, Feasting	Anita Desai
2005	Winner	We Need to Talk About Kevin	Lionel Shriver
2007	Shortlisted	The Inheritance of Loss	Kiran Desai
2009	Shortlisted	Burnt Shadows	Kamila Shamsie
2010	Shortlisted	Wolf Hall	Hilary Mantel
2012	Shortlisted	Half Blood Blues	Esi Edugyan
2013	Longlisted	The Light Between Oceans	ML Stedman
2013	Shortlisted	Bring Up the Bodies	Hilary Mantel
2014	Shortlisted	Burial Rites	Hannah Kent
2020	Shortlisted	The Mirror and the Light	Hilary Mantel
2021	Winner	Piranesi	Susanna Clarke
2023	Shortlisted	Demon Copperhead	Barbara Kingsolver