The Man Booker International Prize 2019 Longlist was just announced a couple of hours ago!
I told you at the beginning of March that I was going to be part of the Shadow Panel Judges (with these amazing people!) this year, so I couldn’t wait to see the list of books selected!
I was part of the shadow panel back in 2015, and it was such an amazing experience, that I thought it was time to try again. In 2015, I discovered so many unusual and fascinating authors that I wouldn’t have read otherwise.
This year longlist seems very promising along these same lines, as it contains almost none of the books we thought would be there! I have heard only of a few authors, but have not read any of these books yet, though a couple were already on my TBR!
So here you go:
#MBI2019
Author (Original Language –Country/territory),
translator, title (publisher/imprint)
- Jokha Alharthi (Arabic / Omani), Marilyn Booth, Celestial Bodies (Sandstone Press Ltd)
- Can Xue (Chinese / Chinese), Annelise Finegan Wasmoen, Love In The New Millennium (Yale University Press) – READ
- Annie Ernaux (French / French), Alison L. Strayer, The Years (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
- Hwang Sok-yong (Korean / Korean), Sora Kim-Russell, At Dusk (Scribe, UK)
- Mazen Maarouf (Arabic / Icelandic and Palestinian), Jonathan Wright, Jokes For The Gunmen (Granta, Portobello Books)
- Hubert Mingarelli (French / French), Sam Taylor, Four Soldiers (Granta, Portobello Books)
- Marion Poschmann (German / German), Jen Calleja, The Pine Islands (Profile Books, Serpent’s Tail)
- Samanta Schweblin (Spanish / Argentine and Italian), Megan McDowell, Mouthful Of Birds (Oneworld) – READING
- Sara Stridsberg (Swedish / Swedish), Deborah Bragan-Turner, The Faculty Of Dreams (Quercus, MacLehose Press) – READING
- Olga Tokarczuk (Polish / Polish), Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
- Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Spanish / Colombian), Anne McLean, The Shape Of The Ruins (Quercus, MacLehose Press)
- Tommy Wieringa (Dutch / Dutch), Sam Garrett, The Death Of Murat Idrissi (Scribe, UK)
- Alia Trabucco Zeran (Spanish / Chilean and Italian), Sophie Hughes, The Remainder (And Other Stories) – READ
The links send you to my reviews.
The titles in bold are the ones I’m currently reading or haven’t reviewed yet.
I believe that’s from 9 different languages, which is pretty good, BUT none from the Japanese? Wow!
You notice most are fairly short, except The Shape of the Ruins, with 528 pages. That’s a good thing, as the goal is to read many as possible, in just a few weeks.
The shortlist will be announced on April 9, and the winner on May 21.
“Bettany Hughes, chair of the 2019 Man Booker International Prize judging panel, said:
‘This was a year when writers plundered the archive, personal and political. That drive is represented in our longlist, but so too are surreal Chinese train journeys, absurdist approaches to war and suicide, and the traumas of spirit and flesh. We’re thrilled to share 13 books which enrich our idea of what fiction can do.’”
I was able to request 6 from my library (in bold characters), and I just bought #4.
It’s now on my kindle, so goodbye for tonight, I have lots to read.
I’ll start by these 7 titles, and we’ll see from there.
But it seems #9 hasn’t been published in the US yet!
Needless to say that my other reading plans for March are put on hold – except daily chapters of Don Quixote and Les Misérables!
HAVE YOU READ ANY OF THESE?
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