The Man Booker International Prize celebrates
fiction from around the world translated into English. The judges have now revealed
the shortlist for the 2017 prize - the second time it's been awarded.
Each shortlisted author and
translator receives GBP 1,000 (USD 1,300 approx.). The GPB 50,000 (USD 64,000 approx.)
prize for the winning book will also be divided equally between its author and
translator.
No novels from Asia made the
shortlist. Yan Lianke’s The Explosion
Chronicles was on the longlist, but failed to make the cut. Still, last year’s inaugural winner, Han Kang’s,
The Vegetarian, translated by
Deborah Smith, sold 160,000 copies in the UK, which must help promote interest
in fiction from Asia in the English-speaking world.
Amos Oz, Israel's most famous living author, and the first to have his work translated into Chinese for an official literature textbook, has made the short list with Judas. He is one of two writers from Israel who have been
shortlisted, the other is David Grossman. One writer from South America,
Samanta Schweblin, got the nod, and three from Europe: two Scandinavians, Roy
Jacobsen and Dorthe Nors and Mathias Enard, a much-lauded novelist from France.
The translators are all established practitioners of their craft:
this is the 17th novel by Oz that Nicholas de Lange has
translated and Roy Jacobsen’s co-translators Don Bartlett and Don Shaw have
worked together many times before.
The shortlist was selected by a panel of five judges,
chaired by Nick Barley, Director of the Edinburgh International Book
Festival, and consisting of: Daniel Hahn, an award-winning writer, editor
and translator; Elif Shafak, a prize-winning novelist and one of the most
widely read writers in Turkey; Chika Unigwe, author of four novels
including On Black Sisters’ Street; and Helen Mort, a prize-winning poet.
Nick Barley said:“Our shortlist spans the
epic and the everyday. From fevered dreams to sleepless nights, from remote
islands to overwhelming cities, these wonderful novels shine a light on
compelling individuals struggling to make sense of their place in a complex
world.”
The winner of the
2017 Prize will be announced in London on 14 June.
The 2017 shortlist
Author Translator
Title
Mathias
Enard
Charlotte
Mandell Compass
(France)
David
Grossman
Jessica
Cohen A Horse
Walks Into a Bar
(Israel)
Roy
Jacobsen
Don Bartlett
& The Unseen
(Norway)
Don Shaw
Dorthe
Nors
Misha Hoekstra Mirror, Shoulder, Signal
(Denmark)
Amos
Oz
Nicholas de Lange Judas
(Israel)
Samanta
Schweblin
Megan
McDowell Fever Dream
(Argentina)
