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Critics praise 'fresh and surprising' Booker longlist but appeal for even more Irish names
Critics have welcomed the “challenging and experimental” nature of the Irish-heavy 2023 Booker longlist and noted “the paucity of stardust”, with many lesser-known names featured. Others have complained it is still “not Irish enough”, with Anne Enright’s omission cited by many.
The 13-strong longlist for the £50,000 prize, revealed this morning (1st August) features seven indie publishers with Irish writers, including longtime nominee Sebastian Barry, making up a third of nominations for the first time. Ten authors are longlisted for the first time, including four debut novelists.
Bea Carvalho, head of books and campaigns at Waterstones, told The Bookseller: “The announcement of the Booker Prize longlist is always an exciting moment in the bookselling calendar, marking the start of an important campaign which will take us all the way to Christmas. This year’s list manages to feel classic yet fresh and surprising, and we are pleased to see long-established favourites like Sebastian Barry, Tan Twan Eng and Paul Murray alongside some astonishing new debut talents.”
She singled out the Pulitzer Prize-winning Paul Harding’s third book: “Waterstones booksellers were blown away by Paul Harding’s This Other Eden when it arrived earlier this year, we’re very happy to see this novel gain this well-deserved recognition which will help introduce it to an even wider readership. We look forward to celebrating each of the nominated titles, and to seeing which of them are chosen for this year’s shortlist.”
Kevin Duffy, co-founder of Bluemoose Books, told The Bookseller: “’It is a cracking list and great to see so many indie publishers on there, plus a host of Irish writers too. For purely personal reasons I’d loved to have seen Cuddy [Bloomsbury] by Benjamin Myers longlisted but anything that brings us great new stories and readers to bookshops benefits the whole trade.”
However another major indie publisher declined to comment having not read any of the longlist and Robbie Millen, the Times’ literary editor, believes “it’s a list low on name recognition”, wanting even more Irish names. He wrote: “The biggest problem with this year’s Booker longlist, Britain’s premier literary prize, is that it’s not Irish enough. Yes, four of the 13 authors are Irish but I would also have added three more — Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy [Faber], Anne Enright’s The Wren The Wren (out late August) [Jonathan Cape] and Megan Nolan’s Ordinary Human Failings [Jonathan Cape]. The Times Literary desk has been banging on about how good Kilroy’s novel is for months; it’s mad, it’s not there.”
However he was pleased with the inclusion of Murray who he described as “funny on the page, which is becoming a rare quality in a publishing world that prefers jittery, anxious, inward-looking novels” as well as Barry, “a gorgeous, humane, expansive writer”.
Martin Doyle, books editor at the Irish Times, similarly believes that other Irish writers should have been listed. “Surprised not to see Claire Kilroy, Michael Magee & Anne Enright,” he tweeted.
Booker Prize 2023: Four Irish writers make longlist - congratulations to Sebastian Barry, Elaine Feeney, Paul Lynch and Paul Murray, who join nine other authors in the running for the award. Surprised not to see Claire Kilroy, Michael Magee & Anne Enrighthttps://t.co/JdgdNbIz5R
— Martin Doyle (@MartinDoyleIT) August 1, 2023
The Guardian’s Ella Creamer noted that other eligible titles that did not make the longlist include Zadie Smith’s forthcoming The Fraud (Hamish Hamilton) and Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead (Faber), which this year won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Women’s Prize.
Jake Kerridge, writing in the Telegraph, also noted the presence of lesser known writers on the list: “That paucity of stardust is a surprise… Zadie Smith, Deborah Levy, 2007 winner Anne Enright and – at a time when he’s feeling the love of the literary world – the novelist twice voted ‘winner of winners’, Salman Rushdie.
“And yet, while the 2023 list comprises a youngish group of authors, not even the bigger or buzzier names among that generation – Eleanor Catton, Megan Nolan, Brandon Taylor – are include […] This, in my view, is all to the good. It indicates a judging panel who aren’t swayed by writers’ reputations.
“And, after all, the purpose of a prize for literary fiction is to shine a spotlight on books that might not otherwise receive a great deal of attention. The 13 longlisted novels are, on the whole, challenging and experimental – a relief to those of us who thought the Booker might dumb down and fill the gap left by the demise of the middlebrow Costa Awards [the 50-year-old prize closed last June].”
Kerridge acknowledged the slightly slimmer indie showing compared to last year’s eight independently published titles but believes "this year’s longlist is an endorsement of anyone, big or small, who takes a risk by publishing non-mainstream fiction by non-superstars".
