IFFP 2015: The official shortlist

After the shadow selection, we now have the official IFFP shortlist:

• By Night the Mountain Burns by Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel (tr. Jethro Soutar)
• The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck (tr; Susan Bernofsky)
• In the Beginning Was the Sea by Tomás González (tr. Frank Wynne)
• F by Daniel Kehlmann (tr. Carol Brown Janeway)
• While the Gods Were Sleeping by Erwin Mortier (tr. Paul Vincent)
• Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami (tr. Philip Gabriel)

I think this is an interesting list, I can’t quite choose between this selection and ours, because my favourite titles cross both lists. But my favourite title on the longlist – The End of Days – is common to both. I’ll be very pleased if it takes the prize; I think it stands a good chance, too.

I’d also, though, have my eye on By Night the Mountain Burns as a wildcard contender. In any event, it’s wonderful to see the publisher And Other Stories make the IFFP shortlist (long overdue, if you ask me). But congratulations to all, and I look forward to the announcement of the winner on 27 May. Of course, we’ll be revealing our shadow winner shortly before then.

Read my other posts on the 2015 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize here.