Interviews with the Booker Prize 2024 longlistees

We asked the authors nominated for this year’s Booker Prize about the inspirations behind their longlisted works, and about their favourite books

Read more about the Booker Prize 2024 here.

Published August 15, 2024

Colin Barrett interview: 'Becoming a writer was always an abstract notion'

The author of Wild Houses, longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024, talks about his book’s small-town Irish setting, and the author who inspired him to write about the world he knew

Rita Bullwinkel interview: ‘I obsessively competed in every sport I could find'

The author of Headshot, longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024, talks about the personal experiences that inspired her novel and the shapeshifting power of Virginia Woolf

Percival Everett interview: ‘I hope that I have written the novel that Twain did not’

The author of James, longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024, on how he sees himself as being in conversation with the creator of Huckleberry Finn, and the skills he learnt from reading Tristram Shandy

Samantha Harvey interview: ‘I wanted to write a space pastoral’

The author of Orbital, longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024, on how her novel was 25 years in the making, and the work of translated fiction that haunts her

Rachel Kushner interview: ‘Reading Alice in Wonderland felt like a secret being deposited’

The author of Creation Lake, longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024, discusses her fascination with prehistory, and the writer who established a new set of language rules

Hisham Matar interview: ‘I carried this novel in my head for a decade’

The author of My Friends, longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024, talks about the classic that inspired him to become a writer, and why he always returns to Proust

This Strange Eventful History - Claire Messud

Claire Messud interview: ‘I wanted to explore the history of my father’s family’

The author of This Strange Eventful History, longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024, discusses the need to tell the stories of worldviews that have vanished, and five books she would describe as ‘perfect’

Anne Michaels interview: ‘Every poem is a poem of witness’

The author of Held, longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024, talks about how her novel explores the conflation of science with technology, and the books that have changed the way she thinks about the world

Tommy Orange interview: ‘I didn’t fall in love with reading until my mid-20s'

The author of Wandering Stars, longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024, talks about the impact of his cultural heritage on his storytelling, and his journey from reader to writer

Sarah Perry interview: ‘Every writer can learn from the plotting of a good crime novelist’

The author of Enlightenment, longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024, shares the childhood memory that inspired her latest book, and her admiration for the ‘faultless’ novel by J.L. Carr

Richard Powers interview: ‘As a child, I was sure I was going to be an oceanographer'

The author of Playground, longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024, talks about his journey from physics to fiction, and the surreal book that showed him a novel ‘could make its own rules’

Yael van der Wouden interview: ‘For a long time, my relationship to literature was pretty flat’

The author of The Safekeep, longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024, talks about reimagining personal and national narratives, and the book from last year’s Booker shortlist that she can’t get out of her head

Charlotte Wood interview: ‘I wanted nothing trivial, nothing insincere in this book’

The author of Stone Yard Devotional, longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024, talks about finding inspiration in personal upheaval, and the stories that shaped her childhood

Interviews with the Booker Prize 2024 longlistees

Colin Barrett interview: 'Becoming a writer was always an abstract notion'

Rita Bullwinkel interview: ‘I obsessively competed in every sport I could find'

Percival Everett interview: ‘I hope that I have written the novel that Twain did not’

Samantha Harvey interview: ‘I wanted to write a space pastoral’

Rachel Kushner interview: ‘Reading Alice in Wonderland felt like a secret being deposited’

Hisham Matar interview: ‘I carried this novel in my head for a decade’

Claire Messud interview: ‘I wanted to explore the history of my father’s family’

Anne Michaels interview: ‘Every poem is a poem of witness’

Tommy Orange interview: ‘I didn’t fall in love with reading until my mid-20s'

Sarah Perry interview: ‘Every writer can learn from the plotting of a good crime novelist’

Richard Powers interview: ‘As a child, I was sure I was going to be an oceanographer'

Yael van der Wouden interview: ‘For a long time, my relationship to literature was pretty flat’

Charlotte Wood interview: ‘I wanted nothing trivial, nothing insincere in this book’

Read more about the Booker Prize 2024

13 things you need to know about the Booker Prize 2024 longlist

What our judges said about the Booker Prize 2024 longlist

Read extracts from the Booker Prize 2024 longlist

Quiz: Which book from the Booker Prize 2024 longlist should you read first?

Interviews with the Booker Prize 2024 longlistees

Colin Barrett interview: 'Becoming a writer was always an abstract notion'

Rita Bullwinkel interview: ‘I obsessively competed in every sport I could find'

Percival Everett interview: ‘I hope that I have written the novel that Twain did not’

Samantha Harvey interview: ‘I wanted to write a space pastoral’

Rachel Kushner interview: ‘Reading Alice in Wonderland felt like a secret being deposited’

Hisham Matar interview: ‘I carried this novel in my head for a decade’

Claire Messud interview: ‘I wanted to explore the history of my father’s family’

Anne Michaels interview: ‘Every poem is a poem of witness’

Tommy Orange interview: ‘I didn’t fall in love with reading until my mid-20s'

Sarah Perry interview: ‘Every writer can learn from the plotting of a good crime novelist’

Richard Powers interview: ‘As a child, I was sure I was going to be an oceanographer'

Yael van der Wouden interview: ‘For a long time, my relationship to literature was pretty flat’

Charlotte Wood interview: ‘I wanted nothing trivial, nothing insincere in this book’

Read more about the Booker Prize 2024

13 things you need to know about the Booker Prize 2024 longlist

What our judges said about the Booker Prize 2024 longlist

Read extracts from the Booker Prize 2024 longlist

Quiz: Which book from the Booker Prize 2024 longlist should you read first?

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