Gospodinov, Rodel win 2023 International Booker

The novel Time Shelter by Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov, translated by Angela Rodel and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, has won the £50,000 (A$93,900) International Booker Prize.

Time Shelter was chosen as the winner of the International Booker Prize from a shortlist of six. The novel ‘explores the concept of a safe space for people with dementia where every room represents a decade from the past, and poses vital questions about the nature of connection’.

Chair of judges Leïla Slimani described Time Shelter as ‘a brilliant novel full of irony and monopoly, a profound work that deals with the contemporary and also philosophical question of what happens to us when our memories disappear?’. Slimani praised the ‘sensitive and precise language’, adding: ‘It is also a great novel about Europe, a continent that is in need of a future where the past is reinvented and nostalgia can be a poison.’

The International Booker Prize is awarded to a book translated into English. The prize money is shared equally between the winning writer and translator, and each shortlisted author and translator also receives £1000 (A$1880).

Last year’s winner was Tomb of Sand by Indian author Geetanjali Shree, translated by Daisy Rockwell (Tilted Axis).

Category: International news