The International Booker Prize committee has unveiled this year’s shortlist, featuring six novels translated into English that blend human suffering with hope, according to judging panel chair Natasha Brown. The selected works span stories from the Iranian revolution to life in exile, and from harsh penal colonies to identity struggles in tightly controlled societies.
Details
Among the important titles is The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar, which follows an Iranian family’s journey from political activism during the 1979 revolution to witnessing modern protests from abroad.
The list also includes The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, recounting the life of German filmmaker G.W. Pabst between Hollywood and Nazi-era Europe, and widely recognized as one of the most critically acclaimed works.
Other shortlisted titles include:
•On Earth As It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia, about a brutal penal colony run by a violent warden.
• Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-zi, following a Japanese writer in 1930s Taiwan.
• The Witch by Marie NDiaye, centered on a sorceress attempting to teach her daughters.
• She Who Remains by Rene Karabash, about a woman living as a man in the Albanian mountains.
The prize is awarded to a single book translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland over the past year, with the £50,000 award split equally between author and translator.
What’s Next?
The winner will be announced on May 19 at a ceremony in London, as anticipation builds over which title will join the list of past winners.
