PAGE-TURNERS
Two Canadian authors have been named to the 2016 Man Booker Prize short list,
Two Canadian authors have made the short list of six writers for the Man Booker Prize.
Vancouver-born Madeleine Thien and Montreal native David Szalay were nominated in London Tuesday along with two American and two British authors also vying for the prestigious award.
Szalay, who is now based in Hungary, received the nomination for his book All That Man Is ( McClelland & Stewart).
The story is set in various European cities and follows the lives of men at different stages in their lives, from their teens through old age.
Thien was recognized for Do Not Say We Have Nothing (Knopf Canada). The story is set in China before, during and after the1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
“I was hoping,” Szalay said when reached by The Canadian Press. “Once they announced the long list obviously you hope that you will make it through to the next round, as it were. I’m just delighted that I did.”
Szalay, who is teaching a creative writing course in northern England this week, was en route to the capital to attend the ceremony where the short list was announced.
“I had to ask them if I could take a day out of (teaching) to come down and attend the event this evening. They were pretty happy actually about the whole thing. It will spice the week up for the people who were on the course, so it’s great.”
Szalay has three novels under his belt: Spring: A Novel (2011), The Innocent (2009) and London and the South-East (2008).
Thien, now based in Montreal, told The Canadian Press last month when she made the Man Booker long list that the heart of her story involves three Chinese musicians who are studying Western classical music at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in the 1960s.
The novel explores the revolution that occurred under Mao Zedong and the many political campaigns that pulled apart people’s lives.
Thien’s book was also longlisted for Canada’s Scotiabank Giller Prize just last week. The winning author for that award will be announced on Nov. 7.
Thien, 42, is the author of the story collection Simple Recipes (2001) and two other novels, Certainty (2006) and Dogs at the Perimeter (2011), which was shortlisted for Berlin’s International Literature Prize and winner of the Frankfurt Book Fair’s 2015 Liberaturpreis.
Her books and stories are published in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Australia and have been translated into 25 languages. The other authors on the Man Booker short list are Americans Paul Beatty for The Sellout and Ottessa Moshfegh for Eileen, plus British writers Deborah Levy for Hot Milk and Graeme Macrae Burnet for His Bloody Project.
Founded in 1969, the award had previously been open to writers from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth, but was expanded in 2014 to include all English-language authors. The winner of the £50,000 ($87,000 Canadian) prize will be named on Oct. 25. Each of the six writers on the short list receives £2,500 ($4,300 Canadian).
The British literary award, which usually brings the victor a huge sales boost, is named after its sponsor, financial services firm Man Group PLC.
Jamaican writer Marlon James won the 2015 Man Brooker Prize for his book A Brief History of Seven Killings.
“Once they announced the long list, obviously you hope that you will make it through to the next round . . . I’m just delighted that I did.” DAVID SZALAY AUTHOR OF ALL THAT MAN IS