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The longlist for the Booker Prize 2021 has been announced! This year’s longlist was selected from 158 novels and includes 13 novels spanning the globe from South Africa to Sri Lanka, with well-known authors such as Kazuo Ishiguro and Rachel Cusk, among others. First awarded in 1969, the Booker Prize is open to writers of any nationality who write in English and are published in the UK or Ireland. The winner of the award will receive £ 50,000 and each shortlisted writer will receive £ 2,500. The shortlist will be announced on September 14th and the winner will be announced on November 3rd.
The chairperson of the jury, Maya Jasanoff, wrote of this year’s longlist: “One thing that these books have in common is their ability to captivate the reader with an unusual story with an artful, distinctive voice. Many of them reflect on how people deal with the past – be it personal experiences of grief or displacement or the historical legacies of enslavement, apartheid and civil war. Many examine intimate relationships that are under stress and meditate through them on ideas of freedom and commitment or what makes us human.
It is particularly resonant during the pandemic to note that all of these books have important things to say about the nature of the community, from the tiny and secluded to the vastness of cyberspace. Reading in lockdown promoted a strong sense of attachment to the books. “
Longlist for the Booker Prize 2021
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A passage to the north from Anuk Arudpragasam
Second place from Rachel Cusk
Damon Galgut’s promise
The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris
Clare and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
An Island by Karen Jennings
A town called Consolation by Mary Lawson
Nobody talks about Patricia Lockwood about it
The lucky people by Nadifa Mohamed
Stunned Richard Powers
China Room by Sunjeev Sahota
Great Circle of Maggie Shipstead
Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford
The jury for this year’s award consists of the historian Maya Jasanoff (Chair), the author and editor Horatia Harrod, the actress Natascha McElhone, the twice shortlisted novelist and professor Chigozie Obioma and the writer and former Archbishop Rowan Williams.
Read more about Book Riot’s coverage of the Booker Prize.
