Fitzcarraldo does the double on £50k International Booker Prize shortlist

The shortlist for this year’s £50,000 International Booker Prize features two nominations for Fitzcarraldo Editions, first appearances for Tilted Axis and Honford Star and the first shortlisting for a Hindi title. 

This year’s six books were announced at the London Book Fair by chair of the judges Frank Wynne, a translator. Awarded annually, the prize goes to the finest fiction from around the world that has been translated into English, with money split equally between author and translator. This year the shortlisted authors and translators will each receive £2,500, increased from £1,000 in previous years. 

The shortlisted works are each translated from a different language and originate from a different country, with three continents represented on the list. This year’s prize is dominated by women writers, including previous winners Olga Tokarczuk and translator Jennifer Croft. 

Fitzcarraldo’s first nomination is for Jon Fosse’s A New Name: Septology VI-VII translated from Norwegian by Damion Searls. The book follows Asle, an ageing painter and widower who lives alone on the south-west coast of Norway, and another Asle, also a painter but lonely and consumed by alcohol. The pair are doppelgängers, both grappling with existential questions. Judges said the work “draws together art, death, and the idea of God with a vast, gentle grace". 

Also from Fitzcarraldo is Tokarczuk’s The Books of Jacob, translated from the Polish by Croft. It is set in the mid-18th century and follows the story of Jacob Frank who “casts a charismatic spell that attracts an increasingly fervent following” across the Hapsburg and Ottoman empires. The judges said the book “weaves an epic tapestry from the bizarre, mundane and utterly unpredictable sweep of history as it is created moment by moment, crammed with a staggering cast of characters, places and historical events”. They praised Croft’s “lithe, elegant translation [for conveying] the novel’s delicate irony and its ethereal beauty”. 

Joining the shortlist is Bora Chung’s short story collection Cursed Bunny (Honford Star), translated from the Korean by Anton Hur. The collection blurs the lines between magical realism, horror and science fiction and uses elements of the fantastic and surreal to address the very real horrors and cruelties of patriarchy and capitalism in modern society. Judges praised the “richly imaginative collection, translated with verve and evident relish by Anton Hur, who shifts effortlessly from playful to harrowing”. 

Mieko Kawakami’s Heaven (Picador) translated from Japanese by Samuel Bett and David Boyd is also in the running. It is told through the eyes of a 14-year-old boy subjected to relentless bullying, whose sole ally is a girl classmate similarly outcast and preyed upon by school bullies. They meet in secret in the hopes of avoiding any further attention and take solace in each other’s company, unaware that their relationship has not gone unnoticed by their tormentors. It is described by judges as an “intense, claustrophobic novel [which uses] its tale of middle-school bullying to enact Nietzsche’s critique of morality”.  

Claudia Piñeiro’s Elena Knows (Charco Press) translated from the Spanish by Frances Riddle also features. The synopsis says: “After Rita is found dead in the bell tower of the church she used to attend, the official investigation into the incident is quickly closed. Her sickly mother is the only person still determined to find the culprit.” Judges said the "short and deeply felt novel evokes the loneliness of ageing and the uncertainty of memory”. 

Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree (Tilted Axis) translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell completes the shortlist. It tells the story of an 80-year-old woman who slips into a deep depression at the death of her husband and then resurfaces to gain a new lease on life. The judges said: “The constantly shifting perspectives and timeframes of Geetanjali Shree’s inventive, energetic Tomb of Sand lead us into every cranny of an 80-year-old woman’s life and surprising past. Daisy Rockwell’s spirited translation rises admirably to the complexity of the text, which is full of wordplay and verve. A loud and irresistible novel.” 

The shortlist was selected by a judging panel in which Wynne was joined by author and academic Merve Emre, writer and lawyer Petina Gappah, writer, comedian and presenter Viv Groskop, and translator and author Jeremy Tiang. 

Wynne said whittling down books was difficult due to the sheer number and quality of submissions. "Each that falls off the table is to be mourned a little,” he said.  

“Translation is an intimate, intricate dance that crosses borders, cultures and languages," Wynne continued. "There is little to compare to the awe and exhilaration of discovering a perfect pairing of writer and translator. As a jury we have had the pleasure of reading many extraordinary books and choosing a shortlist from among them has been difficult and sometimes heartbreaking.  

“These six titles from six languages explore the borders and boundaries of human experience, whether haunting and surreal, poignant and tender, or exuberant and capricious. In their differences, they offer glimpses of literature from around the world but they all share a fierce and breathtaking originality that is a testament to the endless inventiveness of fiction.” 

The winner will be announced on 26th May at a ceremony at One Marylebone in London.