The longlist for the Booker Prize has been revealed, with 13 novels in contention for the British literary award given annually to “the best sustained work of fiction written in English and published in the U.K. and Ireland.”
Six U.S. writers were nominated for the prize, including Percival Everett for James, his retelling of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from the point of view of the enslaved Jim. Everett was shortlisted for the Booker in 2022 for The Trees.
Rachel Kushner made the longlist for Creation Lake, as did Richard Powers for Playground; both authors have previously been finalists for the award. The other Americans to appear on this year’s longlist are Rita Bullwinkel for Headshot, Claire Messud for This Strange Eventful History, and Tommy Orange for Wandering Stars. Orange is the first Native American author to be longlisted for the prize.
Three British authors made the longlist: Samantha Harvey for Orbital, Sarah Perry for Enlightenment, and Hisham Matar for My Friends. Irish author Colin Barrett was nominated for Wild Houses, while Australian writer Charlotte Wood made the list for Stone Yard Devotional.
Anne Michaels of Canada was nominated for Held, and Dutch author Yael van der Wouden was longlisted for The Safekeep.
The judging panel for this year’s award is chaired by author Edmund de Waal, and includes writers Sara Collins and Yiyun Li, Guardian fiction editor Justine Jordan, and musician Nitin Sawhney.
The longlist will be winnowed down to a six-book shortlist, to be revealed on Sept. 16. The winner of the award will be announced at a ceremony in London on Nov. 12.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
