An apparent conflict of interest has emerged over the Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker’s judging of this year’s Booker prize.
A production company run by the actor is reportedly in the process of developing a book written by Claire Adam, whose second novel, Love Forms, appears on this year’s longlist, announced on Tuesday.
Adam’s debut novel, Golden Child, was published in the US in 2019 by SJP for Hogarth, the Penguin imprint for which Parker served as editorial director. It is being developed as a film by Parker’s company Pretty Matches Productions and MA Productions.
“It is not uncommon for judges to have a connection to authors whose work has been submitted, so all judges have to declare any conflicts of interest at the outset,” said Gaby Wood, chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation.
“As Sarah Jessica Parker published Claire Adam’s first novel, Golden Child, under her US imprint SJP for Hogarth, 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, and Love Forms has earned its place on the Booker prize 2025 longlist through the active support of other judges on the panel.”
In an interview with the the Irish Times published in June, Adam said that the film option “was bought by a small production company in LA (MA Productions), and we’re all so thrilled that SJP’s Pretty Matches Productions is on board as well. Film stuff moves slowly, there are a zillion obstacles, and her supporting the project is fantastic.”
Pretty Matches Productions, founded in 2005, is also behind the Sex and the City sequel And Just Like That … and the HBO series Divorce, which Parker executive produced and starred in.
In an interview with the Times in June, Adam said that Parker “reads loads and so it was really fun to hang out with her. She’s so lovely and sincere. She read the book cover to cover and got up at 5am to travel to meet me.” Golden Child is published in the UK by Faber, and in 2019 won the Desmond Elliott prize.
In June 2023, Parker launched SJP Lit, in partnership with the independent publisher Zando, which has published titles including These Days by Lucy Caldwell and The Story of the Forest by Linda Grant. Parker also shares book recommendations on her Instagram account.
Parker was announced as a judge of this year’s Booker prize in December, with Wood saying at the time that she had “enjoyed sharing book recommendations with Sarah Jessica, who has passionately supported contemporary fiction for many years”.
The 2025 judging panel is chaired by Roddy Doyle, and Parker’s co-judges are Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, Kiley Reid and Chris Power.
Adam was named as one of 13 longlisted authors, which include the former winner Kiran Desai, Tash Aw and David Szalay. The shortlist will be revealed on 23 September, with the winner announced on 10 November.
