Meet the authors: interviews with the Booker Prize 2022 longlisted writers

Meet the authors: interviews with the Booker Prize 2022 longlisted writers

Join us in conversation with the authors of this year’s most remarkable works of fiction, as they reveal the inspiration behind their longlisted work, their writing processes and what the nomination means to them

Thirteen authors, 13 remarkable works of fiction. This year’s longlist, or ‘Booker Dozen’, features authors from all walks of life. It includes the youngest and oldest writers ever to be nominated; three books are by debut authors, while four have made the list in previous years.

To celebrate their place on the 2022 longlist, we spoke to each of them. They told us the how they created their nominated work and which books from the Booker Library sit most proudly on their shelves.

Claire Keegan: 'My central character isn’t someone who says much. A longer novel would not have suited his personality'

The author of Small Things Like These explains why she’s more interested in tension than drama… and why not writing is more difficult than writing

NoViolet Bulawayo: 'Glory may be inspired by a specific place, but tyranny isn’t just a Zimbabwean problem'

NoViolet Bulawayo tells us about the influence of her grandmother’s storytelling, comparisons with George Orwell… and her love of Post-it notes

Maddie Mortimer: 'When I read the final 20 pages to my dad and sister, we all cried'

The author of Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies talks about the playfulness of poetry, reading her mother’s diaries and finding inspiration in movies

Hernan Diaz: 'I take the ethical implications of storytelling very seriously. I'm careful never to deceive anyone'

The author of Trust talks about tackling the taboo of money, why he writes with a fountain pen and his love of Borges

Audrey Magee: 'I loved being a journalist, but I was searching for a different kind of truth'

Audrey Magee talks about seeing the world through an artist’s eyes, the endgame of colonisation and why The Colony is more bildungsroman than fable

Shehan Karunatilaka: 'Sri Lankans specialise in gallows humour. It's our coping mechanism'

The author of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida talks about the legacy of the Sri Lankan civil war, his publisher’s tough love… and exploring the afterlife

Elizabeth Strout: 'I could feel myself getting better with each story'

The author of Oh William! discusses her intimate characterisation, how age has impacted her work and what’s next for Lucy Barton

Graeme Macrae Burnet: 'The most important research I did for Case Study was ploughing through women's magazines from the 60s'

Nominated for a second time, Graeme Macrae Burnet talks about surrounding his characters with real people, resisting classification… and his favourite Booker books

Discover the Booker Prize 2022 longlist

Glory

by NoViolet Bulawayo

Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies

by Maddie Mortimer

The Trees

by Percival Everett

Treacle Walker

by Alan Garner

Small Things Like These

by Claire Keegan

After Sappho

by Selby Wynn Schwartz

Booth

by Karen Joy Fowler

Oh William!

by Elizabeth Strout

Trust

by Hernan Diaz

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

by Shehan Karunatilaka (prize winner)

The Colony

by Audrey Magee

Case Study

by Graeme Macrae Burnet

Nightcrawling

by Leila Mottley

Meet the authors: interviews with the Booker Prize 2022 longlisted writers

Meet the authors: interviews with the Booker Prize 2022 longlisted writers

Claire Keegan: 'My central character isn’t someone who says much. A longer novel would not have suited his personality'

NoViolet Bulawayo: 'Glory may be inspired by a specific place, but tyranny isn’t just a Zimbabwean problem'

Maddie Mortimer: 'When I read the final 20 pages to my dad and sister, we all cried'

Hernan Diaz: 'I take the ethical implications of storytelling very seriously. I'm careful never to deceive anyone'

Audrey Magee: 'I loved being a journalist, but I was searching for a different kind of truth'

Shehan Karunatilaka: 'Sri Lankans specialise in gallows humour. It's our coping mechanism'

Elizabeth Strout: 'I could feel myself getting better with each story'

Graeme Macrae Burnet: 'The most important research I did for Case Study was ploughing through women's magazines from the 60s'

Leila Mottley: 'There’s never a wrong age to tell the story that is aching inside of you'

Karen Joy Fowler: 'Imagining a story set in the past is not entirely different from imagining a story set in the future'

Alan Garner: 'Age, in itself, is irrelevant. However, as with all skills, an apprenticeship has to be served'

Percival Everett: 'How long did it take to write The Trees? Sixty-three years'

Selby Wynn Schwartz: 'What if the centre of history were occupied by what women thought about?'