Young, urban and male: who is reading translated fiction in the UK now?
As the International Booker Prize celebrates 10 years, we look at how the audience for translated fiction has changed over the past decade
Illustrations: Anastasiia Boriagina / Getty Images
As the International Booker Prize celebrates its 10th anniversary, new research compiled for the Booker Prize Foundation by NielsenIQ BookData shows that buyers of translated fiction in the UK skew significantly younger, more male and more diverse than buyers of general fiction. They are also younger, more male and more diverse than a decade ago.
In 2016 – the year of the Brexit referendum and Donald Trump’s first presidential election victory – the International Booker Prize was established in its current form. The prize had begun life in 2005 as the Man Booker International Prize and was initially a biennial literary award for a body of work, with no stipulation that the work should be written in a language other than English. In 2015, after the rules of the original Booker Prize expanded to allow writers of any nationality to enter, the International Booker Prize evolved to become the mirror image of the English-language prize, but for a single work of fiction translated from another language into English.
Over the past decade, the prize has grown in prominence, and is now firmly established as the world’s most influential award for translated fiction. At the same time, translated fiction has undergone a boom in the United Kingdom: in 2016, 2.9 million works of translated fiction were sold in the UK; by 2025 (the latest year for which data is available) that figure had risen to 3.8 million works, while the value of the market rose from £23.2m to £40.7m in that period.
The International Booker Prize trophies
© David Parry for the Booker Prize FoundationTastes appear to have changed over the years, too. In 2016, books translated into English from Swedish, French and Italian were the most popular among UK readers; in 2025, it was books translated from Japanese, French and Russian (driven partly by an increase in sales of classic Russian literature).
But perhaps most interesting is the demographic profile of readers of translated fiction, and how it has changed over the past decade, as well as how it compares to the profile of readers of general fiction.
Buyers of translated fiction are relatively young – and appear to be getting younger. In 2025, 72.8% of translated fiction books were bought in the UK by those under the age of 45 (versus 67.6% in 2016). By comparison, 54.4% of 2025’s general fiction was purchased by those under 45 (versus 51.3% in 2016).
The largest share of translated fiction purchases in 2025 was made by those aged 25-34 (compared with the 45-59 age group in 2016), while the largest share of general fiction purchases came from buyers aged 60-84 (also 45-59 in 2016). In 2025, buyers under the age of 35 accounted for 52.0% of all translated fiction books bought, compared with just 36.8% of general fiction books bought.
Translator Deborah Smith and author Han Kang, winners of the International Booker Prize 2016 for The Vegetarian
© Janie Airey/Booker Prize FoundationThe UK's translated fiction buyers in numbers
72.8
% of translated fiction books bought in the UK in 2025 by those under the age of 45
51.3
% of translated fiction books bought in the UK in 2025 by male readers
29
% of translated fiction books bought in the UK in 2025 by people identifying as Black, Black British, Asian, Asian British or Mixed, or being of an ethnicity other than white
47.3
% of translated fiction books bought in the UK in 2025 by people who have a child under the age of 18 in the house
16.4
% of translated fiction bought in the UK in 2025 by people who buy books at their local independent bookshop
49.8
% of translated fiction bought in the UK in 2025 by people living in a city or urban area
42.1
% of translated fiction bought in the UK in 2025 by people who live in London or the South East
5
% of translated fiction bought in the UK in 2025 by people who are retired
While it has been reported over the past few years that men have fallen out of love with reading fiction, more and more male buyers seem to be turning to translated fiction. In fact, according to NielsenIQ BookData’s 2025 figures, more male readers now buy translated fiction than female readers: male buyers of translated fiction accounted for 51.3% of the market in 2025 (versus 46.5% in 2016). By comparison, only 37.2% of general fiction was purchased by male buyers in 2025 (compared with 36.1% in 2016).
Translated fiction buyers have become more ethnically diverse over the past decade, too, and are significantly more diverse than general fiction buyers as a whole. In 2025, 29.0% of translated fiction was purchased by buyers identifying as either Black, Black British, Asian, Asian British or Mixed, or being of an ethnicity other than white, compared with 11.3% in 2016. By comparison, in 2025, 81.6% of general fiction was purchased by buyers identifying as white, versus 92.6% in 2016.
According to the 2025 data, translated fiction is more likely to be bought by those living in a city or urban area compared with buyers of general fiction (49.8% versus 37.2%). Purchases of translated fiction are also more likely to be made by those that work full-time, compared with purchases of general fiction (58.7% versus 49.2%).
Deepa Bhasthi and Banu Mushtaq, winners of the International Booker Prize 2025 for the short story collection Heart Lamp
© David Parry for the Booker Prize FoundationCompared with general fiction, translated fiction is also more likely to be:
bought by people who have a child under the age of 18 in the house (47.3% versus 39.7%);
live in London or the South East (42.1% versus 29.3%);
and shop at a local independent bookshop (16.4% versus 10.6%).
Purchases of translated fiction are less likely to be made by those who are retired (5.5%, versus 16.1% for general fiction).
The data presented above is sourced by NielsenIQ BookData from its ongoing Books & Consumer Survey. This research is conducted through individual online interviews with approximately 8,500 consumers per month, representative of the UK population aged 13-84 by gender, age, social grade and region. Approximately 3,000 book buyers per month are asked to provide details of all new books purchased in the previous month. Additional questions explore wider book purchasing and engagement behaviours, as well as reading habits and broader media, leisure and cultural activities.
‘General fiction’ is an umbrella term which includes all adult fiction bought for leisure in the UK, comprising commercial and literary fiction, and popular genres as classified by publishers, such as crime, thriller, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, horror and romance.
The International Booker Prize 2026 shortlist
© India Hobson for Booker Prize Foundation
