• Books by Nobel Prize in Literature Winners - The Years by Annie Ernaux & translator - Alison Strayer
  • Books by Nobel Prize in Literature Winners - The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andrić
  • Books by Nobel Prize in Literature Winners - The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
  • Books by Nobel Prize in Literature Winners - Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Wole Soyinka
  • Books by Nobel Prize in Literature Winners - One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, translated by Gregory Rabassa

Books by Nobel Prize in Literature Winners, recommended by Five Books Interviewees

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually since 1901 and remains one of the most prestigious prizes a writer can aspire to. It’s also been consistently international, with many novelists and writers from around the globe winning the award for books written in an array of languages. Not all are accessible, and picking out which ones to read can be a tough call. To help, here’s our list of books by winners of the Nobel literature prize that have been recommended on Five Books.

  • The Best Novels of 2023: The Booker Prize Shortlist - Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
  • The Best Novels of 2023: The Booker Prize Shortlist - The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
  • The Best Novels of 2023: The Booker Prize Shortlist - If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery
  • The Best Novels of 2023: The Booker Prize Shortlist - Western Lane by Chetna Maroo
  • The Best Novels of 2023: The Booker Prize Shortlist - This Other Eden by Paul Harding
  • The Best Novels of 2023: The Booker Prize Shortlist - Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein

The Best Novels of 2023: The Booker Prize Shortlist, recommended by Cal Flyn

Every year, the judges for the Booker Prize read more than a hundred books that have been submitted by their publishers in the hope of being recognised by one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards. The 2023 shortlist features a novel-in-stories, an Irish dystopia, and plenty of family drama. Read more fiction recommendations on Five Books

  • The Best African Contemporary Writing - Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih
  • The Best African Contemporary Writing - The Land Is Ours: Black Lawyers and the Birth of Constitutionalism in South Africa by Tembeka Ngcukaitobi
  • The Best African Contemporary Writing - Disruption: New Short Fiction from Africa
  • The Best African Contemporary Writing - A Library to Flee by Etienne van Heerden
  • The Best African Contemporary Writing - A General Theory of Oblivion by Daniel Hahn (translator) & José Eduardo Agualusa

The Best African Contemporary Writing, recommended by Mphuthumi Ntabeni

The emphasis in new African writing is away from politics towards how the individual responds to events, says South African novelist Mphuthumi Ntabeni, author of The Broken River Tent and The Wanderers. He picks out five outstanding books of African writing, including novels that paved the way for new genres, a book of short stories from across Africa, and a work of nonfiction that he recommends to “anybody who wants to know what is happening in South Africa.”

  • Notable Novels of Fall 2023 - The Fraud by Zadie Smith
  • Notable Novels of Fall 2023 - The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut
  • Notable Novels of Fall 2023 - A Shining by Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls
  • Notable Novels of Fall 2023 - My Work by Olga Ravn, translated by Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell
  • Notable Novels of Fall 2023 - The Glutton: A Novel by A. K. Blakemore

Notable Novels of Fall 2023, recommended by Cal Flyn

Outside it’s autumnal and the nights are drawing in. All the better for admiring the bright lights of publishing’s starriest season, when the shiniest baubles are released in time for the Christmas rush. Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn rounds up the most notable new novels of Fall 2023, including eagerly-awaited books from Zadie Smith and Jesmyn Ward, plus the buzziest new releases in literary fiction and novels-in-translation