The longlist for the 2023 Booker Prize is out and look what's in it!
Yes, it's The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng. With this longlisting, it's three for three for him. The Gift of Rain was longlisted in 2007 and The Garden of Evening Mists made the shortlist five years later. Set in Penang in the 1920s, The House of Doors is a tale of love, betrayal and morality said to be based on real events.
Other longlisted titles for this year include The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, Western Lane by Chetna Maroo, This Other Eden by Paul Harding, and A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀. Ten writers are longlisted for the first time, including four debut novelists. The judges read 163 books before selecting the 13-book longlist, which was announced on 1 August.
Once known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), the Booker Prize is given every year to the best novel written in English, published in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Its aim, according to the website, "was to stimulate the reading and discussion of contemporary fiction."
The Prize was first sponsored by Booker McConnell Ltd, a British wholesale distribution company, from which the Prize got its name. In 1969, the inaugural Booker Prize was awarded to P.H. Newby for his novel, Something to Answer For. Last year's winner was The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka.
The Booker Prize should not be confused with the International Booker Prize, its sister prize that is given to works translated into English. Incidentally, Tan was part of the judging panel that picked this year's International Booker winner, Time Shelter, by Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov and translator Angela Rodel.
"The list is defined by its freshness – by the irreverence of new voices, by the iconoclasm of established ones," states Esi Edugyan, chair of the Booker Prize 2023 judging panel. "All 13 novels cast new light on what it means to exist in our time, and they do so in original and thrilling ways."
Edugyan adds: "We were transported to early 20th-century Maine and Penang, to the vibrant streets of Lagos and the squash courts of Luton, to the blackest depths of the Atlantic, and into a dystopic Ireland where the terrifying loss of rights comes as a hard warning.".
Gaby Wood, director of the Booker Prize Foundation, stated that "The range of experience, expertise and sensibility among this year’s judges led them to seek novels that both advanced the form and allowed the reader to understand something about the world; books that would have impact and longevity; books that moved them – and above all, books of such excellence and subtlety that the judges looked forward to re-reading them."
The Booker Prize shortlist will be announced on 21 September. The winner will be revealed on 26 November and receive a £50,000 prize. Will this be Tan Twan Eng's turn to win?
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