Gaby Wood, Literary Director of the Booker Prize Foundation, writes of the shortlist: “It was hard to watch the judges narrow down their longlist to this shortlist: they were so committed to all 13 of the books they’d chosen just over a month ago that the discussion was intense. Still, these six remain extraordinary: they bring news of different worlds; they carry a wealth of lives and voices; they’re in conversation, in various ways, with other works of literature. I think it’s fair to say that the judges weren’t looking for anything in particular—they entered this process with an open mind—but this is what they found: a set of novels that is political, orchestral, fearless, felt. And now, by association, those six will be in fruitful conversation with one another.”
— The Booker Prizes (@TheBookerPrizes) September 3, 2019
2019 Booker Prize Shortlist
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma Quichotte by Salman Rushdie 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak The panel of judges for this year’s award include Peter Florence, founder and director of Hay Festival; former fiction publisher and editor Liz Calder; novelist, essayist, and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo; writer and broadcaster Afua Hirsch; and concert pianist, conductor, and composer Joanna MacGregor. See more of Book Riot’s coverage of the Booker prize here.
