Six authors shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize for Fiction were announced on Thursday which includes Anna Burns, Esi Edugyan, Daisy Jhonson, Rachel Kushner, Richard Powers, and Robin Robertson.
The announcement was made by Chair of judges, Kwame Anthony Appiah, at a press conference at the offices of Man Group, the much-coveted prize’s sponsor.
Appiah while commenting on the selected novels remarked that each of these novels is “a miracle of stylistic invention” in which the language takes center stage.
“All of our six finalists are miracles of the stylistic invention. In each of them, the language takes center stage. And yet in every other respect, they are remarkably diverse, exploring a multitude of subjects ranging across space and time. From Ireland to California, in Barbados and the Arctic, they inhabit worlds that not everyone will have been to, but which we can all be enriched by getting to know,” Appiah said.
He further added that each of explores the “anatomy of pain” but contended that there are “moments of hope” in each of them too.
Clockwise from top left: Rachel Kushner. Esi Edugyan, Robin Robertson, Daisy Johnson, Richard Powers and Anna Burns.
“These books speak very much to our moment, but we believe that they will endure. And we look forward to re-reading all of them as we make our way towards what will inevitably be the very difficult choice of only one of these brilliantly imaginative works as this year’s winner of the Man Booker Prize,” he added.
The shortlist, which features four women and two men, covers a wide range of subjects, from an 11-year-old slave escaping a Barbados sugar plantation to a D-Day veteran living with post-traumatic stress disorder.
