Booker Prize 1972: Complete list of winners

The 1972 Booker Prize marked a pivotal moment in the history of Britain’s most prestigious literary award, one that would spark considerable conversation about the future direction of the prize itself. That year’s winner, John Berger’s G., represented a bold choice by the judges—a sprawling, formally inventive novel that defied easy categorization and challenged conventional notions of what prize-winning fiction could be. Berger’s victory suggested that the Booker Prize was willing to embrace literary ambition and innovation, even when that innovation came wrapped in the kind of experimental narrative techniques that might have seemed too avant-garde for mainstream recognition just years earlier.

What made Berger’s win particularly significant was the signal it sent about the evolving tastes of the literary establishment in the early 1970s. G. was not a comfortable read in the traditional sense—it was demanding, fragmented, and deeply engaged with questions of form and content that many readers found genuinely challenging. Yet the judges recognized something vital in Berger’s work: a serious artist grappling with the possibilities of the novel form itself. This decision reinforced the Booker Prize’s reputation as an award that could champion genuinely innovative writing while maintaining its cultural prestige and influence.

The 1972 Booker Prize winner remains a fascinating artifact of the era, offering insight into what the literary world valued during a period of significant cultural and artistic ferment. Below, you’ll find the complete details of this year’s recognition.

Fiction

• G. by John Berger