(London) From a novelist in her early twenties to an octogenarian dean: the Booker Prize on Tuesday unveiled a selection without a big name, but which this year wants to reflect the “concerns of our planet”, according to the organizers of the prestigious British literary prize.
Posted at 12:28 p.m.
“The thirteen books of course reflect – and offer a reflection on – the concerns of our planet in recent years”, summarized the president of the jury Neil MacGregor in a press release, citing in particular diseases, racial and gender issues or even the fragility of the political order.
With his first novel night crawling, the American Leila Mottley becomes at twenty years the youngest selected in the history of the literary prize. Her book tells through the story of the main character the failure of the justice system that oppresses young black women.
Conversely, the Briton Alan Garner becomes the dean of the selected, all editions combined. The one who will turn 88 on the day of the award ceremony in October has been chosen for his novel Treacle Walker.
Also selected is the short novel by Irishwoman Claire Keegan, Small Things Like This, which won the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction in mid-July. It tells the story of a timber and coal merchant in Ireland in 1985.
Four other novelists already selected by the Booker Prize are again on the list this year (there were six last year): the Zimbabwean NoViolet Bulawayo for Glorythe American Karen Joy Fowler for BoothBriton Graeme Macrae Burnet for Case study and the American Elizabeth Strout for Ah William!.
A total of thirteen works were selected by a jury of five judges from among 169 novels published in the United Kingdom or Ireland between 1er October 2021 and September 30, 2022. Eight women are among the thirteen names selected, and three first-time novelists.
Last year, the prize was awarded to South African author Damon Galgut for The Promisea book about time spent in a white farming family in post-apartheid South Africa.
The names of the six finalists will be announced on September 6, before the winner is announced on October 17. The key is a reward of 50,000 pounds and the assurance of international fame.