Man Booker International Prize 2018 shortlist announced

The shortlist for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize has been announced.

The shortlisted titles are:

• Vernon Subutex 1 (Virginie Despentes, trans by Frank Wynne, MacLehose Press)
• The White Book (Han Kang, trans by Deborah Smith, Portobello Books)
• The World Goes On (László Krasznahorkai, trans by John Batki, Ottilie Mulzet & George Szirtes, Tuskar Rock Press)
• Like a Fading Shadow (Antonio Muñoz Molina, trans by Camilo A Ramirez, Tuskar Rock Press)
• Frankenstein in Baghdad (Ahmed Saadawi, trans by Jonathan Wright, Oneworld)
• Flights (Olga Tokarczuk, trans by Jennifer Croft, Text)

Chosen from a longlist of 13, the shortlist was described by chair of judges Lisa Appignanesi as ‘emblematic of the many adventures of fiction—its making and reading’. ‘We have mesmeric meditations, raucous, sexy, state-of-the-nation stories, haunting sparseness and sprawling tales; enigmatic cabinets of curiosity, and daring acts of imaginative projection—all this plus sparkling encounters with prose in translation,’ said Appignanesi.

The Man Booker International Prize is awarded to a book translated into English. Prior to 2016, the prize was awarded biennially to a body of work.

The £50,000 (A$88,350) prize will be shared equally between the winning writer and translator, and each shortlisted author and translator will also receive £1000 (A$1770).

The winner will be announced on 22 May.

For more information about the prize, see the Man Booker website.

Category: International news