For the 50^th anniversary of the Man Booker Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious English-language literary awards, the Booker Prize Foundation has announced the five finalists for the Golden Man Booker Prize, which will crown the best works of fiction selected for the prize in the last five decades.

The five finalists have each been selected as the best from their respective decade and will now be judged by popular vote to determine a final winner.

“The very best fiction endures and resonates with readers long after it is written. I’m fascinated to see what our panel of excellent judges – including writers and poets, broadcasters and editors – and the readers of today make of the winners of the past, as they revisit the rich Man Booker library,” said Baroness Helena Kennedy, Chair of the Booker Prize Foundation.

The winner of the Golden Man Booker will be announced on Sunday, July 8, at the Man Booker 50 Festival at the Southbank Centre in London.

The Man Booker Prize was launched in 1969 and aims to promote the finest in fiction by rewarding the best novel of the year written in English and published in the United Kingdom.  The winner of the Man Booker Prize receives £50,000 and, like all the shortlisted authors, a check for £2,500.

Here are the finalists for the Golden Man Booker Prize:

1969-1979:
In a Free State by V.S Naipaul (Bloomsbury)
Judged by Robert McCrum

1980-1989:
Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively (Penguin)
Judged by Lemn Sissay

1990-1999:
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (Bloomsbury)
Judged by Kamila Shamsie

2000-2009:
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Fourth Estate)
Judged by Simon Mayo

2010-2019:
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (Bloomsbury)
Judged by Hollie McNish

Image Credit: Booker Prize Foundation