Kiran Desai shortlisted for Booker Prize 2025 after winning it in 2006

After winning the Booker for her much-acclaimed 2006 book, ‘The Inheritance of Loss’, Delhi-born author Kiran Desai has been shortlisted for Booker Prize 2025 for her book ‘The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny’. Desai moved to the US after her initial years of education in India.

Desai started her journey with the critically acclaimed book ‘Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard’, which was published in over 22 countries.

‘The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny’ is her third novel, which, as per the Booker Prize website, is, “A spellbinding story of two young people whose fates intersect and diverge across continents and years – an epic of love and family, India and America, tradition and modernity.”

The other books on the list are ‘Flesh’ by David Szalay, ‘The Land in Winter’ by Andrew Mille, ‘The Rest of Our Lives’ by Ben Markovits, ‘Audition’ by Katie Kitamura, and ‘Flashlight’ by Susan Choi.

These long-form fictional books were chosen from 153 entries, written in English and published between October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025.

Every shortlisted author is awarded £2,500 (~₹2,99,100), and a specially bound edition of their book.

The winner of the prize will be announced on November 10, 2025, where the winning author will be awarded £50,000 (~₹59,82,000).