International Booker Prize times its shortlist promotion for shop reopenings

The International Booker Prize will promote its six shortlisted books when stores reopen on 15th June before the winner is announced in August.

Organisers will focus on one book each week for six weeks with specially commissioned video content going live on Booker Prize channels. The winning writer and translator, who share the £50,000 prize, will be announced in a digital ceremony on 26th August.

Chair of judges Ted Hodgkinson explained: “With bookshops up and down the country reopening—a vital part of the UK’s cultural bounce back—what better moment to celebrate our wonderful shortlist afresh? These are books deserving of an extended time in the spotlight, which reveal greater depths with each rereading.

“As my fellow judges and I return to them ahead of our final meeting in August, now is the perfect moment to read along with us, and place an order with your local bookshop.”

This year's shortlist was announced in April and features Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor (Fitzcarraldo), The Adventures of China Iron by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara (Charco), The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar (Europa), The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld (Faber), The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa (Harvill Secker) and Daniel Kehlmann’s Tyll (Quercus).

The Booker films will feature the authors and translators alongside readings from actors including Natalie Haynes, Toby Jones and Elizabeth McGovern. Promotions will begin with The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree on 15th June, ending with The Discomfort of Evening in the week beginning 20th July.