Six books in 2019 prize shortlist

A statement from the Man Booker Prize organisation said, “The Man Booker International Prize has this evening, Tuesday 9 April, revealed the shortlist of the six books in contention for the 2019 prize, which celebrates the finest works of translated fiction from around the world. The £50,000 prize for the winning book will be divided equally between its author and translator. The announcement was made at an event at Somerset House.”

“The shortlist is absolutely brilliant, diverse, intellectually and morally extremely ambitious,” said Pankaj Mishra, one of the judges, as Maureen Freely, another judge, added, “All six books open up new spaces for conversation between literatures and readers all over the world.” Bettany Hughes said: “This is a prize that is for both the books themselves and for the translations and translators, and what an extraordinary skill to be able to deliver the fluidity, the kind of captivating charisma of words through translation,” with Elnathan John saying it was about “how they were able to transport feelings, emotions, but also large histories, large relationships, other complete universes, into a language like English.”

Professor Angie Hobbs, FRSA, added, “I think choosing a winter is going to be really hard. We have six very strong books here, and there’s going to be very detailed and interesting discussions, and I am really looking forward to these discussions.”