The Booker Prize Quiz
Test your knowledge of Booker Prize winning authors and books with our fun Booker Prize Quiz.
What is the Booker Prize?
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction and the Man Booker Prize, is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. The winner of the Booker Prize receives international publicity which usually leads to a sales boost. When the prize was created, only novels written by Commonwealth, Irish, and South African (and later Zimbabwean) citizens were eligible to receive the prize; in 2014 it was widened to any English-language novel—a change that proved controversial.
A five-person panel constituted by authors, librarians, literary agents, publishers, and booksellers is appointed by the Booker Prize Foundation each year to choose the winning book.
A high-profile literary award in British Culture, the Booker Prize is greeted with anticipation and fanfare. Literary critics have noted that it is a mark of distinction for authors to be selected for inclusion in the shortlist or to be nominated for the “longlist”.
A sister prize, the International Booker prize, is awarded for a book translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. The £50,000 prize money is split evenly between the author and translator of the winning novel.
The Booker Prize Quiz
Results
#1. In 1992 Michael Ondaatje become the first Sri Lankan born winner of the Booker Prize for which book?
Unlucky! These are all written by Michael Ondaatje but it was The English Patient that won the Booker Prize
#2. 2015’s winner A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James was based around a failed assassination attempt of which famous singer?
Unlucky! It was Marlon James’s countryman Bob Marley that features in this book
#3. P.H Newby’s Something to Answer For was the very first Booker Prize winner in which year?
Unlucky! The prize was established as the Booker Prize for Fiction after the company Booker, McConnell Ltd began sponsoring the event in 1969.
#4. Salman Rushdie won in 1981 with which novel?
Unlucky! It was Midnight Children that he won the prize for.
#5. The first female winner of the Booker prize in 1970 was?
Unlucky! Bernice Rubens was the first female winner and to this date the only Welsh one.
#6. George Saunders won in 2017 with a novel based around the death of which US President’s child?
Unlucky! The book in question is Lincoln in the Bardo and it was the death of his son Willie that features in the novel.
#7. This British author won twice in 2009 and 2012 for the 1st and 3rd installments of her Thomas Cromwell trilogy. Who is she?
Unlucky! Hilary Mantel is the correct answer and the books were Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies
#8. 2001 winner The True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey was set in which country?
Unlucky! The Kelly Gang hailed from the state of Victoria in Australia
#9. Who wrote 1989 winner Remains of the Day?
Unlucky! Japanese born British Author Kazuo Ishiguro wrote Remains of the Day
#10. Margaret Atwood won for the 2nd time in 2019 with which book?
Unlucky! Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments shared the 2019 prize with Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Some of the books featured in the quiz
If you enjoyed this quiz, check out our Classic Book Quiz
