Booker Prize 2019: Complete list of winners

Margaret Atwood made literary history in 2019 when The Testaments claimed the prestigious Booker Prize for Fiction, cementing the Canadian author’s status as one of the most celebrated voices in contemporary literature. This wasn’t just any win—it was a homecoming of sorts. Atwood’s earlier masterpiece, The Handmaid’s Tale, had won the same award back in 1985, making her one of the rare authors to claim the Booker Prize twice across different decades. The Testaments, a long-awaited sequel published 34 years after its predecessor, arrived with tremendous anticipation and delivered a narrative that expanded the dystopian world readers thought they knew while introducing fresh perspectives through multiple narrators.

The 2019 Booker Prize win felt particularly resonant given the novel’s exploration of power, resistance, and female agency in a totalitarian state. Published at a moment when The Handmaid’s Tale had experienced a remarkable cultural resurgence through its acclaimed television adaptation, The Testaments proved that Atwood’s vision remained urgently relevant. The award itself—the Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious and influential literary honors in the English-speaking world—has long served as a bellwether for literary merit and commercial success, and Atwood’s victory underscored how her work continues to captivate both critics and readers alike.

Below, you’ll find the complete details of the 2019 Booker Prize winners and finalists.

Fiction

• The Testaments by Margaret Atwood