The Man Booker International Prize has revealed the ‘Man Booker Dozen’ of 13 books in contention for the 2016 Prize, celebrating the finest in global fiction.
This is the first longlist ever to have been announced for the Man Booker International Prize, which has joined forces with the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and is now awarded annually on the basis of a single book. The £50,000 prize will be divided equally between the author of the winning book and its translator. The judges considered 155 books.
The full 2016 longlist is as follows:
José Eduardo Agualusa (Angola), A General Theory of Oblivion, translated by Daniel Hahn, published by Harvill Secker
Elena Ferrante (Italy), The Story of the Lost Child, translated by Ann Goldstein, published by Europa Editions
Han Kang (South Korea), The Vegetarian, translated by Deborah Smith, published by Portobello Books
Maylis de Kerangal (France), Mend the Living, translated by Jessica Moore, published by Maclehose Press
Eka Kurniawan (Indonesia), Man Tiger, translated by Labodalih Sembiring, published by Verso Books
Yan Lianke (China), The Four Books, translated by Carlos Rojas, published by Chatto & Windus
Fiston Mwanza Mujila (Democratic Republic of Congo/Austria), Tram 83, translated by Roland Glasser, published by Jacaranda
Raduan Nassar (Brazil), A Cup of Rage, translated by Stefan Tobler, published by Penguin Modern Classics
Marie NDiaye (France), Ladivine, translated by Jordan Stump, published by Maclehose Press
Kenzaburō Ōe (Japan), Death by Water, translated by Deborah Boliner Boem, published by Atlantic Books
Aki Ollikainen (Finland), White Hunger, translated by Emily Jeremiah & Fleur Jeremiah, published by Peirene Press
Orhan Pamuk (Turkey), A Strangeness in My Mind, translated by Ekin Oklap, published by Faber & Faber
Robert Seethaler (Austria), A Whole Life, translated by Charlotte Collins, published by Picador
The longlist was selected by a panel of five judges, chaired by Boyd Tonkin, senior writer on The Independent, and consisting of: anthropologist and novelist Tahmima Anam; academic David Bellos, Professor of French and Comparative Literature and Director of the Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication at Princeton University; editor and academic Daniel Medin, who holds a comparative literature professorship at the American University of Paris (AUP); and prize-winning British poet and author Ruth Padel.
Boyd Tonkin, chair of the 2016 Man Booker International Prize judging panel, comments:
‘For the first longlist in its new form, the Man Booker International Prize invites readers to share a thrilling journey of discovery across the finest fiction in translation. The 13 books that the judges have chosen not only feature superb writing from Brazil to Indonesia, from Finland to South Korea, from Angola to Italy. Our selection highlights the sheer diversity of great fiction today. From intense episodes of passion to miniature historical epics; from eerie fables of family strife to character-driven chronicles of urban life, this list showcases fiction that crosses every border. It also pays tribute to the skill and dedication of the first-rate translators who convey it to English-language readers. Please join us on this fantastic voyage.’
The judges will announce a shortlist of six books on 14 April with each author and translator receiving £1,000. The winner of the 2016 Prize will be announced on 16 May at a formal dinner at the V & A, with the £50,000 prize being divided equally between the author and the translator of the winning entry. The prize is sponsored by Man Group, one of the world’s largest independent alternative investment managers, which also sponsors the Man Booker Prize for Fiction. Both prizes strive to recognise and reward the finest in contemporary literature.
More information here.
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