The shortlist for the Booker Prize has been revealed, with Percival Everett and Rachel Kushner among the authors in contention for “the best sustained work of fiction written in English by authors from anywhere in the world and published in the U.K. and/or Ireland.”
Everett made the shortlist for James, his retelling of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of the enslaved Jim. The novel is a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and was also longlisted for the National Book Award.
Kushner was named a finalist for Creation Lake, which also made the National Book Award longlist. She previously made the Booker longlist in 2018 for The Mars Room.
Samantha Harvey was the sole British novelist to make the longlist, for Orbital, which was previously shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction.
Australian author Charlotte Wood was named a finalist for Stone Yard Devotional, alongside Dutch writer Yael van der Wouden for The Safekeep and Canadian author Anne Michaels for Held.
Edmund de Waal, chair of this year’s judging committee, said in a statement, “Here is storytelling in which people confront the world in all its instability and complexity. The fault lines of our times are here. Borders and time zones and generations are crossed and explored, conflicts of identity, race and sexuality are brought into renewed focus through memorable voices.”
The winner of the prize will be announced at a London ceremony on Nov. 12.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
