Dua Lipa reads The Details for International Booker promo film

Dua Lipa is one of six A-listers cast to read extracts from the International Booker Prize shortlist as part of a series of promotional films, it was announced today (Wednesday 24th April).

In a new trailer, the singer-songwriter reads from Ia Genberg’s novel The Details (Wildfire Books), translated from Swedish by Kira Josefsson. 

Other performers include Eleanor Tomlinson, who reads from Jenny Erpenbeck’s Kairos (Granta), translated from German by Michael Hofmann; David Jonsson, reading from Selva Almada’s Not A River (Charco Press), translated from Spanish by Annie McDermott; and Tobias Menzies, reading from Hwang Sok-yong’s Mater 2-10 (Scribe) translated from Korean by Sora Kim-Russell and Youngjae Josephine Bae.

Anya Chalotra joins the cast, reading from Jente Posthuma’s What I’d Rather Not Think About (Scribe), translated from Dutch by Sarah Timmer Harvey. Antonia Thomas is the final performer to appear, reading from Itamar Vieira Junior’s Crooked Plow (Verso Fiction), translated from Portuguese by Johnny Lorenz.

Lipa said: “As someone who grew up speaking two languages, I know how inspiring it can be to have access to stories about other worlds. I’m fascinated by lives lived in other countries, whether it’s the imagined lives of the characters or the real lives of the authors. So translation is an art close to my heart – it makes that adventure possible for so many more of us. Translated fiction is a hand extended from one culture to another. It allows us to understand each other better, and to see the world in a new light.”  

For the fourth time in three years, the Booker Prizes has partnered with Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s production company, Merman, to created the shortlist films.The 2024 series is directed by the screenwriter and actor Charlotte Hamblin. 

Gaby Wood, chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, said: “Over the three years we’ve worked with the exceptional team at Merman, the Booker shortlist films have become a huge hit, reaching over 20 million people on our social channels and taking the work of the world’s best writers to new audiences. It’s been gratifying to see how many of these highly engaged viewers say how excited they are to read the books as a result of watching the films.  

“We know that the International Booker Prize is of particular interest to younger readers: half of all buyers of translated fiction in the UK are under 35 – a group now dubbed ’Generation TF’. This season Anya Chalotra, David Jonsson, Dua Lipa, Tobias Menzies, Antonia Thomas and Eleanor Tomlinson, who have read from the shortlisted books with great poignancy and elegance, will speak to that generation and many more.”   

The films produced for the Booker Prize 2023, directed by Hannah Berry George, were viewed over 14 million times across the Booker Prizes’ Instagram and TikTok accounts. The previous year’s films, directed by Kevin Thomas, won in the Culture category of The Drum Awards for Marketing EMEA 2023. 

The new films will be posted on the Booker Prizes website and social channels from 9am on Thursday 25th April. They will also be shown at the International Booker Prize 2024 ceremony, sponsored by Maison Valentino, which is being held at Tate Modern, London, on 21st May.