The high-profile female winners of the Booker Prize
Many female novelists have been honoured with damehood.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Samantha Harvey has become the first woman since 2019 to win the Booker Prize with Orbital, in a record year for female writers.
According to the Booker Prize, 36 men and 19 women have won it since its inception.
This year, five women were shortlisted for the prize for the first time in its history. Here, the PA news agency looks back on the biggest female writers to have snapped up the prestigious literary award.
A double-winner controversy
In 2019, the judges rebelled against the rules and gave both Canadian writer Margaret Atwood and British author Bernardine Evaristo the gong amid difficulties choosing between their novels The Testaments, and Girl, Woman, Other.
Atwood had been shortlisted several times, including in 1986 for The Handmaid’s Tale, and her 10th novel, The Blind Assassin, won the prize in 2000.
Evaristo recently saw her book Mr Loverman turned into a BBC drama, while Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale was turned into a popular Hulu series fronted by Elisabeth Moss.
Dame Hilary Mantel
Hailed as one of the greatest writers of historical fiction, Dame Hilary immersed a generation of readers in the turbulent and cut-throat world of Henry VIII’s court through the Wolf Hall trilogy.
Her tale of Thomas Cromwell’s rise won the 2009 Booker Prize, as did its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies, and was made into a popular BBC series starring Sir Mark Rylance as Cromwell and Damian Lewis as Henry VIII.
A follow-up, The Mirror And The Light, was published in 2020 and has been made into the final BBC series, which began airing earlier this month. She died in 2022.
AS ByattDame Antonia Byatt, known as AS Byatt, won the 1990 Booker Prize for romance novel Possession, and in 2009 was shortlisted for the prize for The Children’s Book.
The book was adapted for a 2002 romance mystery movie of the same name starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Aaron Eckhart, Toby Stephens and Tom Hollander.
Iris Murdoch
Dame Iris Murdoch, played by Dame Judi Dench in a 2001 biopic that delved into her life and battle with Alzheimer’s disease, was a philosopher and writer who was born in Dublin.
The Sea, The Sea, about an egotistical central character, won the 1978 Booker Prize, and she was nominated several more times for the prize.