The highly anticipated Booker Prize shortlist has been announced, revealing an impressive lineup of female authors.
The annual International Booker Prize has announced its shortlist. With a strong female lineup, and what would seem to be an infiltration of independent publishers, the reveal of this year’s nominees makes for a compelling new era in what is considered one of the best literary prizes in the world.
Dominated by independent publishers, this year’s lineup includes two previous winners, Olga Tokarczuk and Jennifer Croft. Alongside authors translated into English for the first time, comprising six languages no less, Korean, Norwegian, Japanese, Spanish, Hindi, and Polish.
From Mieko Kawakami’s unflinching exploration of bullying, and the nature of friendships born under duress, to first time Hindi translation nominee, Geetanjali Shree’s, a tale of a widow finding a new lease on life, female authors take the lead in this year’s International Booker prize shortlist.
This year’s lineup is both original, and poignant, exploring themes of trauma, choices, and addressing the very real horrors and cruelties of patriarchy and capitalism in modern times.
Whether the story is set in modern-day Korea, or deep in the multicultural landscape of south-eastern Europe, all works share an urgent relevance.
The Booker Prize shortlist nominees are: Bora Chungs, Cursed Bunny, Jon Fosse’s, A New Name: Septology VI-VII, Mieko Kawakami’s, Heaven, Claudia Piñeiro’s, Elena Knows, Geetanjali Shree,’s Tomb of Sand and Olga Tokarczuk’s, The Books of Jacob
We are delighted to announce the #2022InternationalBooker Shortlist! Congratulations to all six sets of authors and translators. Click here to read more about the six shortlisted books and the people who created them: https://t.co/VBBrTmfNIH #shortlist pic.twitter.com/tPTRVy62Jy
— The Booker Prizes (@TheBookerPrizes) April 7, 2022
This year the judges considered 135 books, with a record number of submissions received.
The Booker Prize judges for 2022 are translator, Frank Wynne, alongside author and academic Merve Emre; writer and lawyer Petina Gappah; writer, comedian, and TV, radio, and podcast presenter, Viv Groskop; and translator and author Jeremy Tiang.
The 2022 International Booker Prize winner will be announced on 26 May 2022 at a ceremony at One Marylebone in London.
