Independent publishers dominate the Man Booker Prize International 2018 shortlist
The prize is a counterpart to the Man Booker Prize for English-language novels and is open to books published in any language that have been translated into English. Photo: The Man Booker Prize
(Web Desk) – Dominated by independent publishers, the 2018 shortlist for the esteemed British award Man Booker Prize International was announced on Thursday.
This year’s shortlist is mostly represented by independent publishers, with two books from Tuskar Rock Press, and one each from MacLehose Press, Portobello Books, Oneworld and Fitzcarraldo Editions, reported The Independent.
The list of finalists includes Iraqi writer Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad, which depicts real and imaginary horrors after the US-led invasion of Iraq.
South Korea’s Han Kang, who won in 2016 for The Vegetarian, is nominated again for her meditative novel ‘The White Book’. Novels from France, Spain, Hungary and Poland are also on the list.
“This is a shortlist emblematic of the many adventures of fiction – its making and reading. We have mesmeric meditations, raucous, sexy, state- of- the- nation stories, haunting sparseness and sprawling tales; enigmatic cabinets of curiosity, and daring acts of imaginative projection – all this plus sparkling encounters with prose in translation,” said Lisa Appignanesi, chair of the prize’s judging panel.
“We were sorry to have shed so much of our longlist talent, but this is a shortlist to read and re-read,” she was cited by The Independent.
The prize is a counterpart to the Man Booker Prize for English-language novels and is open to books published in any language that have been translated into English.
The £50,000 award is split evenly between the writer and the translator.
In 2017, David Grossman took home the prize for A Horse Walks Into a Bar. It was translated by Jessica Cohen.
George Saunders won the Man Booker prize in 2017 for the best original novel written in the English language and published in the UK.
The winner will be announced on May 22 at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, with the prize money shared between the author and translator
Here’s the 2018 shortlist in full:
Vernon Subutex 1 - Virginie Despentes (MacLehose Press)
The White Book - Han Kang (Portobello Books)
The World Goes On - László Krasznahorkai (Tuskar Rock Press)
Like a Fading Shadow - Antonio Muñoz Molina (Tuskar Rock Press)
Frankenstein in Baghdad - Ahmed Saadawi (Oneworld)
Flights - Olga Tokarczuk (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
