The Man Booker International Prize 2016 longlist was announced earlier today. The list is comprised of some very impressive and appealing titles. It won’t be easy for the judges to choose the shortlist. I’m thrilled to see a little bit of #ReadSoulLit on the list with Marie NDiyae and Fiston Mwanza Mujila. Both of their books are on my TBR for 2016 so that works out perfectly. I’ll be bumping them up my tremendously long TBR list (2016). The £50,000 prize will be divided between the winning author and translator. Each shortlisted author and translator will be awarded £1,000. The shortlist will be announced 14 April and the winners will be announced 16 May at a dinner at the V&A in London. So let’s check out the list of the thirteen nominees:
A General Theory of Oblivion -José Eduardo Agualusa (Angola) Daniel Hahn, (Harvill Secker)
The Story of the Lost Child – Elena Ferrante (Italy) Ann Goldstein, (Europa Editions)
The Vegetarian – Han Kang (South Korea) Deborah Smith, (Portobello Books)
Mend the Living – Maylis de Kerangal (France) Jessica Moore, (Maclehose Press)
Man Tiger – Eka Kurniawan (Indonesia) Labodalih Sembiring, (Verso Books)
The Four Books – Yan Lianke (China) Carlos Rojas, (Chatto & Windus)
Tram 83 – Fiston Mwanza Mujila (Democratic Republic of Congo/Austria) Roland Glasser, (Jacaranda)
A Cup of Rage – Raduan Nassar (Brazil) Stefan Tobler, (Penguin Modern Classics)
Ladivine – Marie NDiaye (France) Jordan Stump, (Maclehose Press)
Death by Water – Kenzaburō Ōe (Japan) Deborah Boliner Boem, (Atlantic Books)
White Hunger – Aki Ollikainen (Finland) Emily Jeremiah & Fleur Jeremiah, (Peirene Press)
A Strangeness in My Mind – Orhan Pamuk (Turkey) Ekin Oklap, (Faber & Faber)
A Whole Life – Robert Seethaler (Austria) Charlotte Collins, (Picador)
So do you keep up with the Man Booker International Prize? Or just the Man Booker? Do you think we as readers give too much attention to literary awards? Which literary awards do you enjoy keeping up with?
I’m an affiliate for The Book Depository. It would be much appreciated to click the link below if you’re interested in picking up any of my recommendations. It will help fund my incessant book buying.
http://www.bookdepository.com/?a_aid=browngirlreading
I’ve read the Ferrante and de Kerangal and thought both were excellent. Looking forward to reading Han Kang and Robert Seethaler next.
Great to hear! I should probably try to read them all then.
I like to follow along with most of the literary prizes, just for fun. I rarely get a chance to read all the books (or even close), but I still like to know about them.
Yeah I guess we’re all the same, but sometimes I find it to be torture.?
I know what you mean…
I prefer the Man Booker International and love the look of the list this year, I’ve read two, the Elena Ferrante and White Hunger by Aki Ollikainen and though I haven’t read The Vegetarian I did read Han Kang’s more recent book Human Acts which was amazing.
Well I’m late for the Ferrante bandwagon, but I have all 4 books lined up to start in May. I’ve heard suite a few people raving about The Vegetarian but I’m not sure it’s my cup of tea. However, I do agree with you that I prefer the international prize, more diverse and interesting. There are some very interesting titles on the list this year.
The IFFP use to be my favourite literary prize, but that merged with the new Man Boooker International Prize. I was hoping it would be a good representation of translated fiction and it didn’t disappoint. I’m very happy with the longlist (even if it lacked some Russian lit) and would love to read all the books but availability of the books makes it difficult, plus so many other books to read. Thank you for talking about books in translation 🙂
So right. Translated works into English are so few and far between. We need to work on this and this prize definitely helps with that. Thanks for commenting Michael! 🙂
I’ve read only one of these – white Hunger – which was excellent – and have two more ready to read. Until now I’ve been following the main Booker list but the changes in the rules for that prize mean there is more diversity in the international prize so in the future I’ll pay more attention to that.
Agreed! I still look at both but I seem to be more drawn to the International list. However, last year’s Man Booker List was very interesting though. We’ll see for this year….
I tend to follow the MBI a bit more closely – but I still haven’t gotten round to reading any of these yet! But I really can’t wait to dive in once I have a moment.
Me too, but I have to square away my reading for this month first. There are also quite a few I’d like to read from the Baileys Women’s Prize longlist though. Too many prizes….