The International Booker Prize longlist has just been announced

Featuring work from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, those who have made the International Booker Prize's longlist include the oldest writer ever nominated, three writers who appear in English for the first time, and books which have been translated from 11 languages.

Speaking on the list, French Moroccan novelist, and chair of judges Leïla Slimani has said it “celebrates the variety and diversity of literary production today”.

The annual prize of £50,000 is awarded to the novel or collection of short stories, written in any language, but translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland. The prize money is divided equally between the author and translator.

The 13-strong list contains three languages that have never appeared before; Bulgarian, Catalan and Tamil, and contains work from authors GauZ’, Zou Jingzhi and Amanda Svensson which has been translated into English for the first time.

The oldest writer longlisted, Maryse Condé, at 89 years old, dictated her nominated novel, The Gospel According to the New World to her husband, Richard Philcox, as she suffers a degenerative neurological disorder that makes it difficult to speak and see. Condé’s husband also translated his wife’s novel, making them the first wife-and-husband author-translator team ever longlisted for the award.

We are delighted to announce the #InternationalBooker2023 longlist. Congratulations to all the authors and translators.

Find out more about each of the books here: https://t.co/U4KH7EkhZj pic.twitter.com/OTgnrZKYk9

— The Booker Prizes (@TheBookerPrizes) March 14, 2023

Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv, which is out at the end of April, is also shortlisted for the prize. The book, written by Ukrainian writer Andrey Kurkov, who writes fiction in Russian, was translated by Reuben Woolley.

Elsewhere, Perumal Murugan’s Pyre, which was translated from Tamil by Aniruddhan Vasudevan, has been longlisted too. Woolley has previously declared himself “dead” as a writer following protest against his work.

Alongside Slimani, Uilleam Blacker, one of Britain’s leading literary translators from Ukrainian; Tan Twan Eng, the Booker-shortlisted Malaysian novelist; Parul Sehgal, staff writer and critic at the New Yorker; and Frederick Studemann, literary editor of the Financial Times, are on this year’s panel of judges.

The longlist was chosen from 134 books published between 1 May 2022 and 30 April 2023 and submitted by publishers.

Slimani has recognised the list as “celebration of the power of language and of authors who wanted to push formal inquiry as far as possible”.

“We wanted to celebrate literary ambition, panache, originality and, of course, through this, the talent of translators who have been able to convey all of this with great skill,” the judge explained.

Eva Baltasar’s Boulder was translated by Julia Sanches from Catalan, and is about a woman nicknamed Boulder by Samsa- a woman the protagonist meets on a merchant ship and falls in love with.

A big thank you to our judges, Leïla Slimani, @BlackerUilleam, @TanTwanEng, @parul_sehgal and @frederick65.

Here's what they had to say about the #InternationalBooker2023 longlist. Find out more about the longlisted books, authors and translators: https://t.co/U4KH7EkPOR pic.twitter.com/YgM2VjNWks

— The Booker Prizes (@TheBookerPrizes) March 14, 2023

Translated from Bulgarian by Angela Rodel, Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov, is about the opening of a “clinic for the past” that offers a promising treatment for Alzheimer’s sufferers: each floor reproduces a decade in minute detail, transporting their patients back in time.

Administrator of the International Booker prize, Fiammetta Rocco has said the longlist “proves that reading has no borders”.

The six book shortlist is due to be announced on April 18th at the London Book Fair, with the winner being announced at a London ceremony on May 23rd.

The full list can be found here.