LONDON
— Britain’s
Booker Prize for fiction unveiled its
final contenders for this year’s award Tuesday, featuring the oldest author and
the shortest book ever to make the prestigious six-strong literary shortlist.
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Octogenarian Englishman Alan Garner, who will turn
88 when the winner is announced on October 17, was shortlisted for “Treacle
Walker”, which is the shortest finalist novel by word count.
Speaking about the overall shortlist, Neil
MacGregor, chair of the 2022 judges, said: “They’re not easy books, even though
they may be short. But like many great pleasures, some require hard work and we
found them well worth the effort.”
Garner, who made his name with children’s fantasy
titles and folk retellings, earned the nomination after six decades in print.
The shortlist, whittled down from a long list of 13
announced in July, saw an equal split of men and women battling for the prize
which can provide a career-changing boost in sales and public profile.
Zimbabwean novelist
NoViolet Bulawayo made it for
the second time, for “Glory”, while Sri Lanka’s Shehan Karunatilaka was the
only other writer not from the British Isles or US, for “The Seven Moons of
Maali Almeida”.
American
Percival Everett was included for “Trees”,
earning independent publisher Influx Press its first Booker shortlist place.
Fellow US writer Elizabeth Strout featured for “Oh
William!” while Irish author Claire Keegan’s “Small Things Like These”
completed the shortlist.
At 116 pages, Keegan’s is the shortest finalist by
the number of pages in the Booker prize’s 53-year history.
“These are, above all, books that we have enjoyed,”
MacGregor said as he unveiled the shortlist at an event in central London.
“They’re books that we want to recommend to others.
They’re not too long and that’s maybe evidence that we’re looking at not just
great writing, but also some great editing,” he added.
MacGregor noted most of the novels tackled “serious,
sometimes tragic subjects” but all of them also featured “moments of high
humor”.
The Booker is Britain’s foremost literary award for novels
written in English. Its previous recipients include Salman Rushdie, Margaret
Atwood, and Hilary Mantel.
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