Which author holds the record for the longest gap between two Booker Prize wins?

Margaret Atwood holds the record for the longest gap between two Booker Prize wins, taking 19 years between her victories in 2000 and 2019.

Atwood first won for The Blind Assassin, a novel that combines family history, political upheaval and a story-within-a-story. She returned to the shortlist nearly two decades later with The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale.

The 2019 prize was unusually shared: Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo were named joint winners. Atwood’s second victory made her only the fourth novelist to win the Booker twice at that time. Her 19-year interval surpassed the previous gaps between repeat winners such as J. M. Coetzee, who won in 1983 and 1999.

A common mix-up is confusing the longest gap between wins with the longest wait from a first nomination or shortlist appearance. Atwood had been shortlisted several times before her first win, but the record in this question concerns the years separating her two actual victories.