The prestigious Booker Prize shortlist has just been announced, revealing six authors who span five different nationalities and four continents.
The shortlist this year includes the shortest book ever nominated, alongside the oldest author to be selected for the prize, with an equal split of men and women on the list.
The majority of the works are inspired by real events, from the Sri Lankan civil war and the fall of Robert Mugabe to Ireland’s Magdalene laundries scandal and the murder of Emmett Till in the US. Judge Neil MacGregor reveals that the books “are all about events that in some measure happen everywhere, and concern us all’.
Let’s take a look at the shortlist below.
Alan Garner – Treacle Walker. Walker is set to celebrate his 88th birthday on the night of the winner ceremony, his novel is an illuminating tale about an introspective young mind trying to make sense of the world around him.
Claire Keegan – Small Things Like These is the shortest book recognised in the prize’s history coming in at 116 pages. It’s a tender tale of hope and quiet heroism, and compassion, which serves as a strong rebuke of the sins committed in the name of religion.
NoViolet Bulawayo – Glory is an energetic and exhilarating joyride that follows the story of an uprising, told by a vivid chorus of animal voices that help us see our human world more clearly.
Percival Everett – The Trees. A violent history that refuses to be buried, combining an unnerving murder mystery with a powerful condemnation of racism and police violence.
Shehan Karunatilaka – The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is an epic, searing, mordantly funny satire set amid the murderous mayhem of a Sri Lanka beset by civil war.
Elizabeth Strout – Oh William! Sees a return to the author’s beloved heroine Lucy Barton in a luminous novel about love, loss, and the family secrets that can erupt and bewilder us at any time.
The Booker Prize offers one of the biggest cash prizes in the World: £50,000 to $84,000 Australian dollars.
The winner will be announced at the roundhouse in London on the 17th of October.
The Booker Prize shortlist includes novels that range widely in styles and subject matter, but half of the six rely on humor to take on grim historical periods. https://t.co/Bz6seopmiW
— New York Times Books (@nytimesbooks) September 6, 2022
