The £50,000 prize is split between the winning author and translator. Each shortlisted author and translator will receive £1,000, bringing the total prize money to £62,000. The winner will be announced May 20. This is the first year that the prize is known as the International Booker Prize, after the Man Group’s sponsorship came to an end. The prize is now sponsored by Crankstart.
— The Booker Prizes (@TheBookerPrizes) April 2, 2020 Ted Hodgkinson, chair of the judges, wrote of the shortlist: “Each of our shortlisted books restlessly reinvents received narratives, from foundational myths to family folklore, plunging us into discomforting and elating encounters with selves in a state of transition. Whether capturing a deftly imagined dystopia or incandescent flows of language, these are tremendous feats of translation, which in these isolating times, represent the pinnacle of an art-form rooted in dialogue. Our shortlist transcends this unprecedented moment, immersing us in expansively imagined lives that hold enduring fascination.” The shortlist was selected by a panel of five judges: Ted Hodgkinson, Head of Literature and Spoken Word at Southbank Centre; Lucie Campos, director of the Villa Gillet, France’s centre for international writing; Man Booker International Prize–winning translator and writer Jennifer Croft; L.A. Times Book Prize for Fiction–winning author Valeria Luiselli; and writer, poet, and musician Jeet Thayil.
2020 Booker International Prize Shortlist
The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar, translated by Anonymous from Farsi (Europa Editions) Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Ross Benjamin from German (Quercus) Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor, translated by Sophie Hughes from Spanish (Fitzcarraldo Editions) The Memory Police by Yōko Ogowa, translated by Stephen Snyder from Japanese (Harvill Secker) The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, translated by Michele Hutchison from Dutch (Faber & Faber) Interested in learning more about the novel that won the Man Booker International last year? It was a really remarkable year—and winner—in the award’s history. Looking for more great international literature in translation? 20 Must-Read Short Story Collections by Women in Translation Women at Work: 6 Female Translators You Need to Know About
