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Sarah Jessica Parker Lands Her Dream Gig: Booker Prize Judge
The actress and publisher will help decide the 2025 winner of the prestigious British book award. It is “the thrill of a life,” she said.
On New Year’s Eve 2022, Sarah Jessica Parker was scrolling on Instagram when she saw a video by the Booker Prize, the prestigious British literary award, in which three judges talked about the craziness of reading 170 novels in seven months to pick that year’s nominees.
She quickly posted a comment: “Oh let me try!!!!”
Now, Parker’s getting a chance to do just that. On Tuesday, the Booker Prize Foundation, the award’s organizer, announced that Parker, a publisher as well as a Golden Globe-winning actor, will sit on the 2025 judging panel, alongside the authors Ayòbámi Adébáyò, Kiley Reid and Chris Power.
Roddy Doyle, the Irish novelist and screenwriter whose novel “Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha” won the 1993 Booker, will chair the jury.
Parker said that having the opportunity to judge “the greatest literary award” was “the thrill of a life,” although she feared she wasn’t worthy of the role. Booker Prize judges are often academics, she said, and she hasn’t attended college.
The Booker Prize often includes judges with surprising backgrounds. In 2021, Rowan Williams, a former archbishop of Canterbury and one of the most recognizable religious figures in Britain, helped give that year’s award to Damon Galgut’s “The Promise.” But global acting stars like Parker have previously been absent, rarely having the time to sit on awards panels, even if they had the inclination.
