An apparent conflict of interest has emerged over Sarah Jessica Parker’s judging of this year’s Booker prize, after it emerged that her production company is developing a novel by longlisted author Claire Adam. Parker, best known for her role in Sex and the City, serves as a judge on the 2025 panel.
Adam’s second novel, Love Forms, appears on the longlist announced on Tuesday. Her debut, Golden Child, was published in the US under Parker’s imprint SJP for Hogarth in 2019, and is being developed as a film by Parker’s company Pretty Matches Productions alongside MA Productions.
The Booker Prize Foundation acknowledged the situation, stating that all judges must declare conflicts of interest. Chief executive Gaby Wood said: “As Sarah Jessica Parker published Claire Adam’s first novel … she declared the potential conflict to ensure transparency and only gave her view on the book after the other judges had shared theirs. No book can go through if it is supported by one judge alone.”
In a June interview with the Irish Times, Adam confirmed the film option and praised Parker: “She reads loads … She read the book cover to cover and got up at 5am to travel to meet me.” Parker’s company also produced the Sex and the City sequel And Just Like That…
The 2025 judging panel is chaired by Roddy Doyle, with co-judges Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, Kiley Reid and Chris Power. The shortlist will be revealed on 23 September, with the winner announced on 10 November.
