The top contenders for the £50,000 prize have just been announced
Wondering what to read this autumn? You’re in luck; the shortlist for 2021 Booker Prize has just been announced.
Judges announced which six longlisted novels had made the final cut at an online event last night. Leading the pack are two previous nominees: Pulitzer Prize-winning Richard Powers and South African writer Damon Galgut. Powers caught the judges eye with his moving story of a father-son relationship (Bewilderment), while Galgut was nominated for his account of a family living through post-Apartheid (The Promise).
British-Somali novelist Nadifa Mohamed – nominated for her reimagined historic novel The Fortune Men – is the only British writer to make the shortlist, while Patricia Lockwood’s dizzying depiction of life online No One Is Talking About This is the only shortlisted debut.
Sri Lankan author Anuk Arudpragasm’s second novel about the lasting trauma of his country’s civil war (The Passage North) earned him his first Booker nomination. Rounding out the shortlist is American writer Maggie Shipstead, who’s third novel Great Circle follows a forgotten female aviator and the actress playing her decades later.
As for which book will win the Booker – the bookies can’t say. With literary heavyweight Sir Kazuo Ishiguro (who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2017) and bestseller Rachel Cusk both dropped from the longlist, there’s no clear front runners for the £50,000 prize. If you fancy making a decision for yourself, have a read up on the shortlisted books below.
Read More:
Pure Poetry: Five Writers For Your Autumn Reading List / Books To Read Before They Hit The Screens
You might also like...