The Man Booker Prize announced the longlist of the 13 nominees on Wednesday 24 July. While previous winners Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood were back on the list, there’s not much in store for readers as there are no surprise nominees on the list this year. Following the announcement of the Booker Prize longlist, the six finalists will be announced on September 3rd and the winner on October 14th.
While Rushdie won the Booker Prize in 1981 for “Midnight’s Children”, Margaret Atwood won the Literary Prize in 2000 for “The Blind Assassin”. Aside from Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood, the list includes seven women and four men, including Max Porter, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Elif Shafak, and others.
Ahead of the final announcement of the Booker Prize winner, here’s a list of all the books nominated this year:
Margaret Atwood (the wills)
The Testaments is the sequel to Margaret’s exciting series The Handmaid’s Tale.
Kevin Barry (Night boat to Tangier):
Kevin Barry’s Nightboat to Tangier is a gangster novel and book obsessed with the mysteries of love.
Oyinkan Braithwaite (My sister, the serial killer):
Another nomination on the list is Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister, The Serial Killer tells how a sister is bounded by a sense of familial obligation to assist her sister in crimes.
Lucy Ellmann (Ducks, Newburyport):
Lucy Ellmann’s novel tells of America’s barbarity, past and present, and the nation’s sleepwalking toward environmental disaster.
Bernardine Evaristo (Girl, Woman, Other):
Bernardine Evaristo’s novel is about interconnected stories of a group of black British women who raise timeless questions about feminism and race.
John Lanchester (The wall):
Known as a dystopian novel, John Lanchester’s The Wall tells of a future England full of climate disasters, with bad weather and no beach nearby.
Deborah Levy (The man who saw everything):
Debrorah Levy’s The man who saw everything is a novel about the difficulty of seeing ourselves and others clearly.
Valeria Luiselli (Lost children archive):
Lost children archive charts a family’s physical journey from New York City to Arizona. This is Valeria’s only book in English.
Chigozie Obioma (An orchestra of minorities):
Chigozie Obioma’s The Fisherman’s follow-up, An Orchestra of Minorities is the story of Chinonso, a young poultry farmer in present-day Nigeria who sacrifices everything to win the woman he loves.
Max Porter (lanny):
Max Porter’s lanny is a novel that connects the present with the past. Dead Papa Toothwort, a mythical figure, awakens after a lovely nap to listen to the twenty-first century village and its stories by Lanny, a new kid to the area.
Salman Rushdie (Quixote):
Rushdie yet to be published Quixote is a scenic road trip through contemporary America inspired by Don Quixote.
Elif Shafak (10 minutes and 38 seconds in this strange world):
Elif Shafak’s 10 minutes and 38 seconds in this strange world is a profound and unwavering look at sexual violence and tells about the life of prostitute Leila.
Jeanette Winterson (Frankisstein):
Jaenette Winterson’s Frankisstein is a blend of romance and advanced technology, exploring gender identity and AI.
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