The shortlist for the Booker Prize has been revealed, with six books in the running for the prestigious British literary award given annually to “the best sustained work of fiction written in English and published in the UK and Ireland.”
Paul Murray made the shortlist for his novel The Bee Sting, which is a finalist for this year’s Kirkus Prize. He was one of two Irish authors to be named a finalist, alongside Paul Lynch for Prophet Song.
Paul Harding was named a finalist for This Other Eden, a novel that was recently longlisted for the National Book Award. One other American writer made the Booker shortlist: Jonathan Escoffery for If I Survive You, which was previously a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize for best first book.
British author Chetna Maroo earned a spot on the shortlist for Western Lane, as did Canadian writer Sarah Bernstein for Study for Obedience.
In a statement, Esi Edugyan, this year’s chair of judges, said, “Together these works showcase the breadth of what world literature can do, while gesturing at the unease of our moment.…They are vibrant, nervy, electric. In these novelists’ hands, form is pushed hard to see what it yields, and it is always something astonishing. Language—indeed, life itself—is thrust to its outer limits.”
The Booker Prize was established in 1969. Previous winners include Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, and Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart.
The winner of this year’s prize will be announced at a ceremony in London on Nov. 26.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
