The longlist for the International Booker Prize has been revealed, with 13 books in the running for the award that honors “the best work of international fiction translated into English” and published in the U.K. or Ireland.
French novelist Maryse Condé, 89, became the oldest nominee in the prize’s history with her nomination for The Gospel According to the New World, translated by Richard Philcox. Condé and Philcox are the first husband-and-wife team to make the longlist.
Condé is 54 years older than the youngest nominee this year, Swedish author Amanda Svensson, whose A System So Magnificent It Is Blinding, translated by Nichola Smalley, made the longlist.
Three languages were represented on the longlist for the first time: Bulgarian (Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov, translated by Angela Rodel), Catalan (Boulder by Eva Baltasar, translated by Julia Sanches), and Tamil (Pyre by Perumal Murugan, translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan).
Ukrainian author Andrey Kurkov made the longlist for Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv, translated by Rueben Woolley, along with German writer Clemens Meyer for While We Were Dreaming, translated by Katy Derbyshire. South Korean novelist Cheon Myeong-kwan was named a finalist for Whale, translated by Chi-Young Kim, as was Chinese author Zou Jingzhi for Ninth Building, translated by Jeremy Tiang.
Also nominated were Ivorian author GauZ’ for Standing Heavy, translated by Frank Wynne; Norwegian writer Vigdis Hjorth for Is Mother Dead, translated by Charlotte Barslund; French novelist Laurent Mauvignier for The Birthday Party, translated by Daniel Levin Becker; and Mexican author Guadalupe Nettel for Still Born, translated by Rosalind Harvey.
The International Booker Prize was first awarded in 2005. Past winning books have included Han Kang’s The Vegetarian, translated by Deborah Smith, and Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights, translated by Jennifer Croft.
The prize comes with a cash award of about $60,000, which is split evenly between the author and translator. The shortlist for the award will be announced on April 18, with the winner named at a ceremony in London on May 23.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
