The International Booker Prize Tenth Anniversary
Join us to celebrate a decade of the influential prize for translated fiction, with acclaimed guests including Dua Lipa.
This year marks ten years of the International Booker Prize in its current form – a decade in which the prize has celebrated outstanding writing from around the world, honoured ten winners in ten different languages and driven a significant increase in sales of translated fiction in the UK. Four authors recognised by the International Booker Prize have gone on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature: Annie Ernaux, Jon Fosse, Han Kang and Olga Tokarczuk.
The Booker Prize Foundation is celebrating the anniversary with a one-off public event in London in our Queen Elizabeth Hall. Bringing together influential voices from the International Booker Prize’s history, the special event offers an immersive look at how exceptional translated fiction is created and championed.
The evening opens with a special introduction from the Grammy and BRIT Award-winning global superstar and founder of the Service95 Book Club, Dua Lipa, who is a voracious reader, a passionate supporter of translated fiction and a friend of the prize.
The programme features:
Deepa Bhasthi, translator of Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, which won the International Booker Prize in 2025, in conversation with multi-nominated translator (shortlisted in 2016, longlisted in 2022 and 2024) and 2017 judge Daniel Hahn.
David Diop, author of At Night All Blood is Black, which won the International Booker Prize in 2021, in conversation with acclaimed historian and 2021 judge Olivette Otele.
Publisher Jacques Testard of Fitzcarraldo Editions, which has a record 17 International Booker Prize nominations, along with agent Laurence Laluyaux of RCW Literary Agency, who represents previous winners Han Kang and Olga Tokarczuk, among others. Between them they have published six Nobel Prize in Literature winners – listen in as they share the secrets of their success with Gaby Wood, Chief Executive of the Booker Prize Foundation.
The event closes with a reading from The Vegetarian, by Simone Ashley, the Bridgerton and Devil Wears Prada 2 actor. The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith won the inaugural International Booker Prize in 2016 and has just been chosen by readers’ as their favourite winner of the last decade.
With thanks to International Booker Prize 2026 supporter Bukhman Philanthropies.
Need to know
Access
Please note that one conversation during the event will be conducted in French, with English subtitles displayed on screen. If you have any access requirements or questions, please contact our Access team, email [email protected] or call us on 020 3879 9555.
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For your visit
This event is held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall Southbank Centre
The Queen Elizabeth Hall is open from 90 minutes before events start until they finish. It’s closed at all other times.
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The Queen Elizabeth Hall is home to both our second-largest auditorium and the Purcell Room.
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We’re working hard to remove barriers, so that our facilities and events can be accessible to as many people as possible.
All help points, toilets, performance and exhibition spaces at the Southbank Centre are accessible to all, as are the cafes, bars and restaurants. We also have excellent public transport links with step-free access.
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