Sarah Jessica Parker Set as Judge for Prestigous Literary Award the Booker Prize

Sarah Jessica Parker has been appointed to the judging panel of prestigious U.K. literary award the Booker Prize.

1993 Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle will chair the panel, which this year is also comprised of novelist Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, literary critic Chris Power and author Kiley Reid.

Over the next seven months the panel will be required to read approximately 150 novels before whittling their favourites down to a longlist of 12 or 13 titles, which will be unveiled in July. Of those, a shortlist of six will be announced next September and the winner will be crowned in November.

The winner will receive a £50,000 ($64,000) cash prize while the remaining finalists will each receive £2,500 ($3,200).

The Booker Prize is considered fiction’s most prestigious award and has been running for over 50 years. It is open to writers of any nationality as long as their novel is written in English and has been published in the U.K. and/or Ireland between Oct. 1, 2024 and Sept. 30 2025. Many Booker Prize winners go on to be adapted for screen.

“The 2025 judges form a jury of creative peers like no other,” said Gaby Wood, CEO of the Booker Prize Foundation. “We’ve never before had three Booker authors on the panel. Roddy, the first past Booker winner to chair the judges, has already brought generosity, wit and calm to the process, and I have no doubt that he will draw together this stellar crowd as they seek the best fiction of the year. Ayọ̀bámi and Kiley, both past longlistees and very different writers, are perfectly placed to identify a cohort following in their footsteps. I’ve long admired Chris’s acuity and taste, and have in recent months enjoyed sharing book recommendations with Sarah Jessica, who has passionately supported contemporary fiction for many years. I’m hugely looking forward to listening in.’

Although Parker is best known for her acting work, including roles in “Just Like That,” “Sex and the City” and “Hocus Pocus,” she has also dabbled in publishing, launching her own literary imprint SJP Lit in June 2023 in partnership with Zando. She also runs a production company, Pretty Matches Productions.