Once again, I’m part of the shadow panel following the Man Booker International Prize. The longlist has now been announced:
Compass by Mathias Énard, translated from the French by Charlotte Mandell (Fitzcarraldo Editions).
Swallowing Mercury by Wioletta Greg, translated from the Polish by Eliza Marciniak (Portobello Books).
A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman, translated from the Hebrew by Jessica Cohen (Jonathan Cape).
War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans, translated from the Dutch by David McKay (Harvill Secker).
The Unseen by Roy Jacobsen, translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw (MacLehose Press).
The Traitor’s Niche by Ismail Kadare, translated from the Albanian by John Hodgson (Harvill Secker).
The Explosion Chronicles by Yan Lianke, translated from the Chinese by Carlos Ross (Chatto & Windus).
Black Moses by Alain Mabanckou, translated from the French by Helen Stevenson (Serpent’s Tail).
Bricks and Mortar by Clemens Meyer, translated from the German by Katy Derbyshire (Fitzcarraldo Editions).
Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorthe Nors, translated from the Danish by Misha Hoekstra (Pushkin Press).
Judas by Amos Oz, translated from the Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange (Chatto & Windus).
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell (Oneworld).
Fish Have No Feet by Jón Kalman Stefánsson, translated from the Icelandic by Philip Roughton (MacLehose Press).
Well. For the first time in my four years of doing this (including IFFP shadowing), I haven’t read any of them. So it’s going to be a busy month ahead. I will review as many as I can on the blog (though it may be in the shorter format that I’ve been trying out on Twitter and Facebook), and use this post as an index.
I won’t make any broader comment on the longlist, except to say: a lot of languages are represented there – eleven in total. I wonder if that’s a record.
Finally, you can find the rest of the shadow panel here: Stu, Tony Malone, Tony Messenger, Bellezza, Clare, Grant, and Lori. Right, time to start reading…
15th March 2017 at 4:55 pm
I havent read any of these either – I think I have The Explosion Chronicles though. Delighted to see Mabanckou on the list.
22nd March 2017 at 11:37 am
Mabanckou is one of those authors I’ve meant to read but never got around to. Actually, there are a few authors like that on this list, so I’m quite pleased!
15th March 2017 at 5:51 pm
Nor I! Looking forward to the panel’s recommendations.
22nd March 2017 at 11:37 am
Thanks Annabel!
15th March 2017 at 5:56 pm
Well they all sound fascinating, but I’ve added Fever Dream; Mirror, Shoulder, Signal and A Horse Walks into a Bar to my wishlist as they appeal the most.
Have fun!
22nd March 2017 at 11:38 am
Thanks Sarah – I hope you enjoy them!
16th March 2017 at 12:45 am
Golly! That’s a lot of reading you’ve got ahead of you, Young Master David.
though it may be in the shorter format that I’ve been trying out on Twitter and Facebook
I read this initially as “though it may be in a shorter format than I’ve been trying out on Twitter and Facebook” and was perplexed: David cutting his reviews down to fewer than 140 characters??!!??11?>?
22nd March 2017 at 11:34 am
Hi Paul. It is a hefty amount of reading, though thankfully most of them are reasonably short. Who knows, I may have to resort to 140-character reviews if time goes against me!
17th March 2017 at 7:32 pm
I’m feeling the pressure and I had at least read two of the books (though two of the shortest). We really will have to get reading!
22nd March 2017 at 11:39 am
We will!