Living Canon

Booker Prize 2002: Complete list of winners

Yann Martel’s Life of Pi claimed the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2002, cementing what would become one of the most beloved and debated literary achievements of the twenty-first century. The novel’s victory marked a turning point for the prestigious award, which had long championed literary innovation and formal experimentation. Instead, the judges embraced Martel’s philosophical adventure narrative—a tale of a young man stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger—recognizing something both intellectually challenging and universally resonant in its exploration of faith, survival, and storytelling itself.

The Booker Prize win was somewhat surprising given the competition that year, as Life of Pi represented a departure from the kind of densely introspective or politically urgent fiction that had dominated recent years’ shortlists. Yet the novel’s deceptive simplicity masked deeper concerns about belief, doubt, and the stories we construct to make sense of trauma. The win transformed Martel from an accomplished but relatively obscure Canadian author into a literary household name, and Life of Pi would go on to sell millions of copies worldwide and inspire Ang Lee’s 2012 film adaptation. The 2002 Booker Prize decision ultimately revealed how the award could celebrate ambitious storytelling that operated on multiple levels at once.

For a complete look at all the finalists and the selection details from this landmark Booker Prize year, continue reading below.

Fiction