Launched in 1969 by the publishing company Booker, McConnell Ltd, the Man Booker Prize awards 50,000 pounds to the author of the best novel in English published in the United Kingdom in a given year. A panel of judges from a variety of disciplines picks the winner from a curated list of finalists. Being chosen, or even nominated, for the prize usually means an exponential increase in sales for the winner.

The prize was originally known as the Booker–McConnell Prize. The “Man” was added in 2002, when the Booker Prize Foundation began administering the prize and the investment firm Man Group became the title sponsor.

The process for picking the winner begins in July with a long list of nominations. It’s cut to a final list in September, and the winner is announced in late October.

How many Man Booker winners from the past ten years have you read?

2015….A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

2014….The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

2013….The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

2012….Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

2011….The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

2010….The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson

2009….Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

2008….The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

2007….The Gathering by Anne Enright

2006….The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

2005….The Sea by John Banvill