The Man Booker International Prize has tonight announced its shortlist for 2019.
Not to be confused with the Man Booker Prize, which is for books written in English, the International Prize celebrates the finest works of translated fiction from around the world.
The event in London tonight at Somerset House announced the contenders for the £50,000 prize, which will be divided equally between author and translator.
The 2019 shortlist for the Man Booker International Prize is as follows
Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharti, translated by Marilyn Booth (Sandstone Press, originally written in Arabic – Oman)
The Years by Annie Ernaux, translated by Alison L. Strayer (Fitzcarraldo Editions, originally written in French – France)
The Pine Islands by Marion Poschmann, translated by Jen Calleja (Profile Books, Serpent’s Tail, originally written in German – Germany)
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Fitzcarraldo Editions, originally written in Polish – Poland)
The Shape of the Ruins by Juan Gabriel Vásquez, translated by Anne McLean (MacLehose Press, Quercus, originally written in Spanish – Colombia)
The Remainder by Alia Trabucco Zerán, translated by Sophie Hughes (And Other Stories, originally written in Spanish – Chile)
This is the second year in a row Olga Tokarczuk has made the shortlist, having won the Man Booker International Prize in 2018 for her novel, Flights.
Jokha Alharthi is the first writer from the Arabian Gulf to be shortlisted for the prize and Alia Trabucco Zerán makes the list with her debut novel.
The shortlist is dominated by independent publishers and the stories include a pilgrimage of a lecturer on beard fashions over the pine islands of Matsushima (The Pine Islands), a tale of Colombian conspiracy theories (The Shape of the Ruins), and an environmental whodunit with a cast of eccentric characters (Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead).
Bettany Hughes, chair of the 2019 Man Booker International Prize judging panel, said in a statement: “Wisdom in all its forms is here. Unexpected and unpredictable narratives compelled us to choose this vigorous shortlist. Subversive and intellectually ambitious with welcome flashes of wit, each book nourishes creative conversation. We were struck by the lucidity and supple strength of all the translations.”
The winner of the Man Booker International Prize for 2019 will be announced on May 21.
