Alert! The longlist for the 2016 Man Booker Prize has been announced, including JM Coetzee.
There are 13 books on the list, six are by women and seven by men, with seven British authors and four American. Coetzee is described as “South African-Australian” on the list.
The Nobel Laureate, who has won the Booker Prize twice before, has made this year’s longlist with The Schooldays of Jesus, which is not due out until 26 September – meaning few people beyond the Booker Prize judges have read it.
The book is a sequel to his 2013 novel The Childhood of Jesus, following the same characters.
Chair of judges, Amanda Foreman, called it “a very exciting year”, telling The Guardian: “The range of books is broad and the quality extremely high. Each novel provoked intense discussion and, at times, passionate debate, challenging our expectations of what a novel is and can be.
“From the historical to the contemporary, the satirical to the polemical, the novels in this list come from both established writers and new voices. The writing is uniformly fresh, energetic and important. It is a longlist to be relished.”
The 2016 longlist, or Man Booker “Dozen” of 13 novels:
Paul Beatty (US), The Sellout (Oneworld)
JM Coetzee (South African-Australian), The Schooldays of Jesus (Harvill Secker)
AL Kennedy (UK), Serious Sweet (Jonathan Cape)
Deborah Levy (UK), Hot Milk (Hamish Hamilton)
Graeme Macrae Burnet (UK), His Bloody Project (Contraband)
Ian McGuire (UK), The North Water (Scribner UK)
David Means (US), Hystopia (Faber & Faber)
Wyl Menmuir (UK), The Many (Salt)
Ottessa Moshfegh (US), Eileen (Jonathan Cape)
Virginia Reeves (US), Work Like Any Other (Scribner UK)
Elizabeth Strout (US), My Name Is Lucy Barton (Viking)
David Szalay (Canada-UK), All That Man Is (Jonathan Cape)
Madeleine Thien (Canada), Do Not Say We Have Nothing (Granta Books)
Aside from Coetzee, the only previously acknowledged author is Deborah Levy, who was shortlisted in 2012 for Swimming Home and Other Stories. There are four debut authors on the list: David Means, Wyl Menmuir, Ottessa Moshfegh and Virginia Reeves.
Coetzee, who is now an Australian citizen, is the only African writer on the list, which also lacks any Asian-born writers.
The Man Booker Prize was established in 1969. Last year’s winner was Marlon James for A Brief History of Seven Killings. The winner receives £50,000 (about R935,000) and £2,500 is awarded to each of the shortlisted authors. The shortlisted authors also experience a significant worldwide increase in book sales.
Judges for the prize this year are Amanda Foreman, Jon Day, Abdulrazak Gurnah, David Harsent and Olivia Williams.
The shortlist will be announced on 13 September and the winner on 25 October.
Book details
- The Childhood of Jesus by JM Coetzee
EAN: 9780099581550
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- The Sellout by Paul Beatty
EAN: 9781250083258
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- The Schooldays of Jesus by JM Coetzee
EAN: 9781911215363
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- Serious Sweet by AL Kennedy
EAN: 9781503936508
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- Hot Milk by Deborah Levy
EAN: 9780241146552
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- His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet
EAN: 9781910192146
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- The North Water by Ian McGuire
EAN: 9781471151248
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- Hystopia by David Means
EAN: 9780571330126
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- The Many by Wyl Menmuir
EAN: 9781784630485
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- Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
EAN: 9780143128755
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- Work Like Any Other by Virginia Reeves
EAN: 9781471152214
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- My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
EAN: 9780241248775
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- All That Man Is by David Szalay
EAN: 9780224099769
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- Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien
EAN: 9781783782666
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