The International Booker Prize shortlist for 2024 was announced today (April 9, 2024) and the six books selected are fabulous for sure.
In an announcement on their social media page, the Booker Prize committee wrote, ‘We are delighted to reveal the #InternationalBooker2024 shortlist, featuring six books ‘that interweave the intimate and political in radically original ways’.’
The International Booker Prize is an annual award given to the best work of fiction translated in the English language and published in the UK and Ireland.The prestigious award acknowledges and honours the important role of translators in helping diverse literature be accessible to people across the world.
The six books shortlisted for International Booker Prize 2024 are:
1. ‘Mater 2-10’ by Hwang Sok-yong, translated from Korean by Sora Kim-Russell and Youngjae Josephine Bae
“To open the novel with a protest of such great heights and then to settle into the seemingly small, mundane lives of the families who both endured and sustained their occupation and revolution, makes the ordinary extraordinary, as Jino’s night travels shift the light and shadow in ways that we come to see the miracles of determination and survival, of an entire culture, through some of the most despairing and hopeful times” – said the jury about the book.
2. ‘Kairos’ by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated from German by Michael Hofmann
“Kairos is uncomfortable and complex. It’s about the weight of history and how it impinges on our lives. It starts with love and passion, but it’s at least as much about power, art and culture, a different kind of obsession”, said the jury about the book.
3. ‘What I’d Rather Not Think About’ by Jente Posthuma, translated from Dutch by Sarah Timmer Harvey
“The book’s raw exploration of a twin relationship, coupled with a rare authenticity in depicting the process of mourning, provides a narrative that’s both uniquely insightful and tender in its humanity” was the statement by the hury about the book.
4. ‘Crooked Plow’ by Itamar Vieira Junior, translated from Portuguese by Johnny Lorenz
“The novel’s deep dive into the quilombo communities of Brazil offers a unique window into a world where the legacy of resistance and the fight for land rights weave through the personal and collective narratives of its characters, a perspective rarely captured with such intimacy and authenticity”, said the jury about the book.
5. ‘Not a River’ by Selva Almada, translated from Spanish by Annie McDermott
“The economy and clarity of the writing hold you from the very beginning. The abrupt transitions – a single sentence undoing the calm progression of life – is a great narrative skill; a written form somehow encompassing the shattered form of life it describes,” the jury said in a statement about the book.
6. ‘The Details’ by Ia Genberg, translated from Swedish by Kira Josefsson.
“The attention to detail is such that the complex sentences and long paragraphs flow effortlessly without being showy. The use of four separate portraits to reflect the narrator’s life is a remarkable achievement”, said the jury.
According to the Booker Prize website, the shortlist of six books has been selected by a panel of judges whcih includes Eleanor Wachtel, a well-known broadcaster and journalist, who served as chair; Natalie Diaz, an award-winning poet; Romesh Gunesekera, an internationally acclaimed novelist; William Kentridge, a visual artist; and Aaron Robertson, a writer, editor, and translator.
The experts chose the six books from a total of 149 books published between May 1, 2023, and April 30, 2024, which were submitted by various publishers for consideration.
The prize money of £50,000 (INR 52,81,458 ) is split equally: £25,000 for the author and £25,000 for the translator (or shared equally among multiple translators). Additionally, each of the shortlisted titles receives a prize of £5,000: £2,500 for the author and £2,500 for the translator (or shared equally among multiple translators).
In an announcement on their social media page, the Booker Prize committee wrote, ‘We are delighted to reveal the #InternationalBooker2024 shortlist, featuring six books ‘that interweave the intimate and political in radically original ways’.’
The International Booker Prize is an annual award given to the best work of fiction translated in the English language and published in the UK and Ireland.The prestigious award acknowledges and honours the important role of translators in helping diverse literature be accessible to people across the world.
The six books shortlisted for International Booker Prize 2024 are:
1. ‘Mater 2-10’ by Hwang Sok-yong, translated from Korean by Sora Kim-Russell and Youngjae Josephine Bae
“To open the novel with a protest of such great heights and then to settle into the seemingly small, mundane lives of the families who both endured and sustained their occupation and revolution, makes the ordinary extraordinary, as Jino’s night travels shift the light and shadow in ways that we come to see the miracles of determination and survival, of an entire culture, through some of the most despairing and hopeful times” – said the jury about the book.
2. ‘Kairos’ by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated from German by Michael Hofmann
“Kairos is uncomfortable and complex. It’s about the weight of history and how it impinges on our lives. It starts with love and passion, but it’s at least as much about power, art and culture, a different kind of obsession”, said the jury about the book.
3. ‘What I’d Rather Not Think About’ by Jente Posthuma, translated from Dutch by Sarah Timmer Harvey
“The book’s raw exploration of a twin relationship, coupled with a rare authenticity in depicting the process of mourning, provides a narrative that’s both uniquely insightful and tender in its humanity” was the statement by the hury about the book.
4. ‘Crooked Plow’ by Itamar Vieira Junior, translated from Portuguese by Johnny Lorenz
“The novel’s deep dive into the quilombo communities of Brazil offers a unique window into a world where the legacy of resistance and the fight for land rights weave through the personal and collective narratives of its characters, a perspective rarely captured with such intimacy and authenticity”, said the jury about the book.
5. ‘Not a River’ by Selva Almada, translated from Spanish by Annie McDermott
“The economy and clarity of the writing hold you from the very beginning. The abrupt transitions – a single sentence undoing the calm progression of life – is a great narrative skill; a written form somehow encompassing the shattered form of life it describes,” the jury said in a statement about the book.
6. ‘The Details’ by Ia Genberg, translated from Swedish by Kira Josefsson.
“The attention to detail is such that the complex sentences and long paragraphs flow effortlessly without being showy. The use of four separate portraits to reflect the narrator’s life is a remarkable achievement”, said the jury.
According to the Booker Prize website, the shortlist of six books has been selected by a panel of judges whcih includes Eleanor Wachtel, a well-known broadcaster and journalist, who served as chair; Natalie Diaz, an award-winning poet; Romesh Gunesekera, an internationally acclaimed novelist; William Kentridge, a visual artist; and Aaron Robertson, a writer, editor, and translator.
The experts chose the six books from a total of 149 books published between May 1, 2023, and April 30, 2024, which were submitted by various publishers for consideration.
The prize money of £50,000 (INR 52,81,458 ) is split equally: £25,000 for the author and £25,000 for the translator (or shared equally among multiple translators). Additionally, each of the shortlisted titles receives a prize of £5,000: £2,500 for the author and £2,500 for the translator (or shared equally among multiple translators).