A beautiful novel about a squash prodigy battling loneliness on the court, a dystopia that reimagines Ireland as a totalitarian state and a coming-of-age story about a neurodiverse teenager are among the 13 titles that have long shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize.
The longlist, announced in a news release on Tuesday, features only a handful of novels by well-known authors, including Sebastian Barry’s “Old God’s Time,” about a retired policeman dealing with painful memories, and the “This Other Eden” by Paul Harding, about a mixed-race community facing eviction from the island home.
Instead, the list is dominated by works by lesser-known writers, including four debuts. Esi Edugyan, an author who chaired this year’s judges, said in a news release that the list was “defined by its freshness — by the irreverence of new voices, the iconoclasm of the established .”
All of the nominated books “shed new light on what it means to exist in our time, and they do so in original and exciting ways,” Edugyan added.
The four debut books are “If I Survive You,” by Jonathan Escoffery, about a Jamaican family in Miami; “Pearl,” by Sian Hughes, about the loss of a mother; “All the Little Bird-Hearts,” by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow, told from the perspective of a mother with autism; and “Western Lane,” by Chetna Maroo, about a grieving squash player and his family.
Other nominees include “How to Build a Boat,” by Elaine Feeney, about a neurodiverse schoolboy and the teachers who help him, and the upcoming “Prophet Song,” by Paul Lynch, about an Irish society which is under the control of authoritarianism.
Established in 1969, the Booker Prize is one of the most coveted literary awards, given each year to the author of a novel written in English and published in Britain or Ireland. It’s often seen as the capstone of a writer’s career, but the award also regularly creates new literary stars. Recent winners include Bernardine Evaristo, Douglas Stuart and Marlon James.
Last year, Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka won the prize with “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida,” a satire that explores the trauma of his country’s civil war. After the announcement, sales of the book jumped to more than 100,000 copies and it has now been translated into 19 languages, the Booker Prize Foundation said in a news release Tuesday.
This year’s judges will now narrow the longlist to a six-book shortlist, set to be revealed on September 21. The winning book, whose author will receive a 50,000 pound prize, about $64,000, will be announced at a ceremony in London on Nov 26.