‘Subversive and sensual’ International Booker Prize shortlist announced

The shortlist of six novels includes works originating in six countries across four continents, and features: 

• Books that explore the challenges of motherhood, the struggles of undocumented workers and the dangers of nostalgia 
• ‘A distinctly Korean take on Great Expectations’ plus novels by ‘the grande dame of Caribbean literature’ and ‘a Proust from the East’ 
• First nominations for books translated from Bulgarian and Catalan 
• A wife and husband author-translator team 
• One translator and one author who have been recognised by the prize before 
• A book published in its original language almost 20 years ago 
• Work by a film director and a former security guard 
• Two debut novels and one final novel – the latter by the oldest writer ever to be shortlisted.

The International Booker Prize exists not only to shine a light on the best fiction originally written in languages other than English, but also to emphasise why reading such fiction matters to us all. This year’s shortlistees all agree that we should be doing more to celebrate translated fiction. Maryse Condé says that ‘translation has always been treated like a poor cousin and needs to be recognised in the literary landscape’, while translator Frank Wynne says that ‘literature in translation is the most powerful way of fostering empathy, of nurturing curiosity, of developing an understanding not only of others, but of ourselves.’ Eva Baltasar adds: ‘The fact that translation can take literature outside the borders of its original language is a gift. Translation moves treasures from one place to another, expanding our heritage, leaving no one the poorer.’

Read more here. 

‘I think I speak for the whole jury when I say that I am proud of this list. I think it’s a very cool, very sexy list. We wanted each book to feel like an astonishment and to stand on its own. 

‘These books are all bold, subversive, nicely perverse. There is something sneaky about a lot of them. I also feel that these are sensual books, where the question of the body is important. What is it like to have a body? How do you write about the experience of the body? These are not abstract or theoretical books, but on the contrary, very grounded books, about people, places, moments. All these authors also question the narrative and what it means to write a novel today. 

‘What is extraordinary about literature is that when a novel is successful, it works for anyone, anywhere. There’s something really magical about storytelling. And we have had the joy of experiencing this by reading the books on this list. We have been caught up in these stories, dazzled, fascinated and it is these emotions that we want to share. I’m very happy to offer this list to readers – a list of remarkable variety, where they will find poetry, fantasy, eroticism and metaphysics.’ 
 

The author said: ‘I wrote three Boulders. Three different novels with the same title and the same intention: portraying a boulder-like character. The first and second iterations were a struggle, the product of two and a half years of constant writing. But I wasn’t in love with those characters. I need to want to be with my characters, to love them through language.’ 

The judges said: ‘A very intense, poetic, sensual book about all kinds of appetites. 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.’ 

The author said: ‘Because of my loss of vision, I had to dictate the text to a friend as well as my husband. This obliged me to write each chapter in my head. I was sensitive to sound and meaning because the writer is also a musician. The process was delicate and complex. I endeavoured to give to the person I was dictating to the version I had written out in my head.’ 

The judges said: ‘A joyful and optimistic book by a great storyteller, about the possibility of changing the world. Maryse Condé plays with our need to believe in a messiah, and retells one of the oldest stories with a lot of irony. It’s a deceptively simple novel full of wisdom, generosity of spirit and the writer’s palpable tenderness towards the world and her craft.’ 

The author said: ‘I come from a system that sold a “bright future” under communism. Now the stakes have shifted, and populists are selling a “bright past”. I know via my own skin that both cheques bounce, they are backed by nothing.’ 

The judges said: ‘The conceit – a time clinic – will make you want to burst out laughing, and it’s full of lines you’ll want to copy out. 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. Part of a tradition of East Central Europe that includes Milan Kundera, Dubravka Ugrešić and Danilo Kiš, it’s a fresh staging of old questions: the danger of selective memory, the inheritance of trauma, and how nostalgia can take a grip on society and become a comfort blanket – or a cancer.’ 

• Q&As with all of the shortlisted authors and translators 

   
• Why you should read the shortlist according to our judges.

• The shortlist features novels originating in four continents: Asia, Africa, Central America and Europe. 
• The novelists are from six countries: Bulgaria, Côte d’Ivoire, France, Mexico, South Korea and Spain. Two of these nationalities, Côte d’Ivoire and Bulgaria, are represented for the first time. 
• The translators are from five countries: Brazil, Ireland, South Korea, United Kingdom and the United States. Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel and Boulder by Eva Baltasar explore the challenges of motherhood. 
• GauZ’ is nominated for his debut novel, which is also his first work to appear in English. GauZ’ moved to Paris as an undocumented student, working as a security guard before returning to Côte d’Ivoire. 
• Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov is the first Bulgarian novel shortlisted. Gospodinov was described in La Repubblica as ‘a Proust from the East’, and Time Shelter warns of the dangers of nostalgia. 
• Boulder by Eva Baltasar is the first novel translated from Catalan to be nominated. Speaking in El País recently, Pedro Almodóvar expressed his wish to adapt the book, and praised Baltasar for being a ‘tough and original writer’. 
• Whale by Cheon Myeong-kwan was described by the Financial Times as ‘A distinctly Korean take on Great Expectations.’ Whale was Myeong-kwan’s first novel and was published in Korean 20 years ago. Alongside his work as a novelist, Myeong-kwan is also a screenwriter and film director. 
• Maryse Condé, born in Guadeloupe, is widely recognised as ‘the grande dame of Caribbean literature.’ She dictated The Gospel According to the New World to Richard Philcox, her husband and translator, having lost her sight. At age 89, she is the oldest writer to ever be shortlisted for the prize, having been shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2015. Condé has said that The Gospel According to the New World is her last novel. 
• Translator Frank Wynne was shortlisted in 2018 for his translation of Vernon Subutex 1 by Virginie Despentes, and was the chair of the International Booker Prize 2022 judging panel. 
• Novelists Eva Baltasar and Georgi Gospodinov are also published poets.

Shortlist readings, Southbank Centre 

An evening of shortlist readings will be mediated by Merve Emre, Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford and regular contributor to the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books on Thursday May 18, 7.30pm, Purcell Room, Southbank Centre. 

The 2023 winners at the Hay Festival 

The prize’s annual visit to the festival occurs at 4.00pm on Saturday May 27, when International Booker Prize judge and novelist Tan Twan Eng and Booker Prize Foundation Chief Executive Gaby Wood will be in conversation with the winning author and translator of the International Booker Prize 2023. 

Find out more about both events here.

The winner can expect international recognition and a significant uplift in global sales. Last year’s winner, Tomb of Sand, written by Geetanjali Shree and translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell, made history as the first novel translated from any South Asian language to be recognised by the International Booker Prize. The UK edition initially sold 473 copies in the first six months after publication, which increased to over 5,000 copies between the longlist announcement in February and the end of May 2022. In the nine months since its win on May 26 2022 it has sold a further 25,000 copies making it the publisher, Tilted Axis’s, biggest seller. Rights have been sold in a dozen languages and a US edition was recently published by HarperVia. 

For media enquiries, please contact:

• Premier: [email protected]
• Ruby Short, +447710 859 447.