For the first time in the award’s 55-year history, five of the six nominated titles are by female authors.
Rachel Kushner’s “Creation Lake,” a novel about a spy-for-hire who infiltrates an environmental activist group, and Percival Everett’s “James,” a retelling of Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” from the perspective of an enslaved runaway, were among the six titles announced Monday that will compete for this year’s Booker Prize.
The shortlist, revealed during an event in London, also includes Yael van der Wouden’s “The Safekeep,” an erotically-charged novel about a Dutch woman who unexpectedly falls for her brother’s girlfriend, and Samantha Harvey’s “Orbital,” about six astronauts circling the earth on a space station.
Anne Michaels’s “Held,” a multigenerational family saga that begins in the trenches of World War I, and Charlotte Wood’s “Stone Yard Devotional,” about a woman overcome with despair about climate change who enters a convent, are the other two nominated titles.
First awarded in 1969, the Booker Prize is one the most coveted literary awards, given each year to a novel written in English and published in Britain or Ireland. Over the years, the prize has created literary sensations and capped illustrious careers, with past winners that include Douglas Stuart’s “Shuggie Bain” and Hilary Mantel’s “Bring Up The Bodies.”
Last year’s prize went to “Prophet Song,” a novel by Paul Lynch set in a near-future Ireland torn apart by civil war.
Edmund de Waal, the chair of this year’s judges, said at a news conference that the six books dealt with “the fault lines of our times,” including conflicts of identity, race and sexuality. But, he added, they were also great reads. De Waal said that he had filled his copies of the nominated novels with so many markings that they had become “a complete disgrace, a librarian’s lament.”
For the first time in the prize’s 55-year history, five of the six nominated titles are by female authors. Sara Collins, a novelist and another of this year’s judges, described this at the news conference as “a gratifying, thrilling moment” — especially given that last year’s shortlist featured more novels written by men named Paul (three) than by women (two).
Monday’s announcement came seven weeks after the judges had published a 13-book longlist. Several high-profile titles failed to make the final cut, including Richard Powers’s “Playground” and Tommy Orange’s “Wandering Stars.”
The judges will now reread the shortlisted novels before choosing a winner, to be announced at a ceremony in London on Nov. 12. The author of the winning title will receive 50,000 pounds, or about $66,000.
The full shortlist is:
Percival Everett, “James”
Samantha Harvey, “Orbital”
Rachel Kushner, “Creation Lake”
Anne Michaels, “Held”
Yael van der Wouden, “The Safekeep”
Charlotte Wood, “Stone Yard Devotional”
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