The Man Booker International Prizeshortlist has been unveiled, featuring six authors writing in five languages.
Annie Ernaux, Olga Tokarczuk, Jokha Alharthi, Marion Poschmann, Juan Gabriel Vásquez and Alia Trabucco Zerán are all in the running for the prize.
This year’s shortlist highlights the works of five female authors, as well as an all-female list of translators, originally published in Arabic, French, German, Polish and Spanish.
Ernaux, from France, is shortlisted for her acclaimed memoir The Years. Omani author Alharthi is in the running with Celestial Bodies, which tells the stories of three sisters in the village of al-Awafi in Oman.
Tokarczuk, the Polish winner of last year’s prize, is shortlisted this time for Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead, a thriller in which a woman investigates a string of murders.
Poschmann, of Germany, secures her spot on the list with The Pine Islands, about a man who leaves his wife to abruptly embark on a journey in Japan.
Vásquez, from Colombia, earned his place on the shortlist with The Shape of the Ruins, a tale of political conspiracy and assassinations that begins with the arrest of a man after he tries to steal a murdered politician’s suit from a museum.
Zerán, from Chile, is shortlisted for The Remainder, set in Santiago in the aftermath of the military dictatorship.
The Man Booker International Prize, which celebrates “the finest works of translated fiction from around the world”, comes with a £50,000 ($65,000) prize for the winning book, to be divided between the author and the translator.
The winner of the 2019 prize will be announced on 21 May in London during a formal dinner.
