International Booker Prize reveals "subversive" shortlist

The shortlist for the International Booker Prize has been revealed with six “subversive and sexual” books, according to the judges.

The “list of remarkable variety” also features two new languages to the prize, featuring translations of original pieces from their native language to English.

Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) is translated in English from Bulgarian by Angela Rodel and Boulder by Eva Baltasar is translated by Julia Sanches (And Other Stories) from Catalan.

Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel is translated from Spanish by Rosalind Harvey (Fitzcarraldo). Translated from Korean to English by Chi-Young Kim is Cheon Myeong-kwan’s Whale (Europa).

The list also features the oldest writer at the age of 89 to be nominated for the prize, with Maryse Condé and her work The Gospel According to the New World translated from French by her spouse Richard Philcox (World Editions).

Standing Heavy by GauZ’ rounds out the shortlist with a translation from French to English by Frank Wynne (MacLehose).

The six books will be judged by six individuals with various backgrounds and nationalities. Chair and novelist Leïla Slimani, Parul Sehgal - staff writer at The New Yorker - translator and professor Uilleam Blacker, author and former property lawyer Tan Twan Eng, and Literary Editor of the Financial Times, Frederick Studemann.

Presenting the #InternationalBooker2023 shortlist: six "subversive and sensual" stories from across the world.

Congratulations to all the authors and translators! 🎉

Find out more about the books: https://t.co/U4KH7EkhZj pic.twitter.com/DWoIrK0rfG

— The Booker Prizes (@TheBookerPrizes) April 18, 2023

The judges described in detail their responses to the six novels and how it was conveyed with each text.

The judges described The Gospel According to the New World as “a deceptively simple novel.” They said, “A joyful and optimistic book by a great storyteller, about the possibility of changing the world. “

Baltasar’s Boulder is “A feverish exploration of desire, a vibrant love story between two women, lyrical and simmering, written with lucidity and great freedom of tone. An impressive work of translation. ”

Time Shelter was praised for its comedic elements with the time clinic setting. “It’s an inventive novel with an unexpectedly cheeky tone to it. But it’s also a subversive masterclass in the absurdities of national identity: so relevant now.”

Whale by Myeong-kwan left the judges "in awe": "You’ve never read a plot like it: just read it, and be swept away by the sheer joy and energy of the storytelling.”

“Told in a fragmentary style – as if from different camera angles – this is the story of colonialism and consumerism, of the specifics of power, and of the hope of the Sixties diminishing as society turns cynical and corrupt,” explained the judges about Standing Heavy by GauZ’.

‘A fast-paced, poignant and funny take on Franco-African history and its complexities and problems.’

Congratulations to GauZ' and Frank Wynne, author and translator of Standing Heavy, on being shortlisted for the #InternationalBooker2023.https://t.co/6MpraLZ91N pic.twitter.com/330p95vMcA

— The Booker Prizes (@TheBookerPrizes) April 18, 2023

Nettel’s Still Born has a plot that “grabs you so organically it’s as though you’ve been abducted by reading – you feel like you live with these characters. At the end of the book you’ll want to call a friend and ask them to read it too, because none of it is black and white.”

The Booker Prize website mentions how important it is for the wide variety of stories with the international prize. This allows for readers to comprehend different global perspectives and stories.

“This prize aims to encourage more reading of quality fiction from all over the world, and has already had an impact on those statistics in the UK.”

The contest is not just limited to novels as short stories are also welcome.

Last year’s prize saw Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree receive the prize with a translation from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell. The book became the first Hindi translation to win the Booker prize.

Frank Wynne, one of the judges from the previous competition, commented, “In its linguistic contortions it evokes Don Quixote, in its discursive digressions it is reminiscent of Tristram Shandy, in its sense of the magical there are echoes of Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.”