The shortlist for the International Booker Prize has been revealed, with six authors and six translators in the running for the annual literary award recognizing works of fiction translated into English.
The Gospel According to the New World, written by French author Maryse Condé and translated by Richard Philcox, made the shortlist; Condé, 89, is the oldest author to be named a finalist, and she and Philcox are the first wife-and-husband team to make the shortlist.
Two debut novels made the shortlist: Standing Heavy, written by Ivorian author GauZ’ and translated by Frank Wynne; and Whale, written by South Korean author Cheon Myeong-kwan and translated by Chi-Young Kim.
Boulder, written by Catalan author Eva Baltasar and translated by Julia Sanches, was named a finalist, along with Time Shelter, written by Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov and translated by Angela Rodel. They are the first books written in Catalan and Bulgarian to make the shortlist.
Still Born, written by Mexican author Guadalupe Nettel and translated by Rosalind Harvey, was also named a finalist.
Leïla Slimani, the chair of the prize jury, said in a statement, “These books are all bold, subversive, nicely perverse. There is something sneaky about a lot of them.…We have been caught up in these stories, dazzled, fascinated, and it is these emotions that we want to share.”
The International Booker Prize was first awarded in 2005. Past winners have included A Horse Walks Into a Bar, written by David Grossman and translated by Jessica Cohen, and At Night All Blood Is Black, written by David Diop and translated by Anna Moschovakis.
The winning book will be revealed at a London ceremony on May 23.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
