Another wintry storm Friday

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Celebrated South African novelist J.M. Coetzee and U.S. Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout are among the contenders for Britain's prestigious Man Booker Prize for fiction.

Coetzee's "The Schooldays of Jesus" and Strout's "My Name is Lucy Barton" are on the 13-book longlist announced Wednesday.


• "The Schooldays of Jesus" by J.M. Coetzee - South Africa, Australia


• "Serious Sweet" by A.L. Kennedy - U.K.


• "His Bloody Project" by Graeme Macrae Burnet - U.K.


• "The North Water" by Ian McGuire - U.K.


• "Work Like Any Other" by Virginia Reeves - U.S.


• "My Name Is Lucy Barton" by Elizabeth Strout - U.S.


• "All That Man Is" by David Szalay - Canada, U.K.


• "Do Not Say We Have Nothing" by Madeleine Thien - Canada

The list includes four first-time novelists — David Means, Wyl Menmuir, Otessa Moshfegh and Virginia Reeves — alongside established authors such as A.K. Kennedy and Deborah Levy.

Five American authors made the cut. Previously open only to writers from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth, the Booker expanded in 2014 to include all English-language authors. Despite fears of U.S. dominance, there has not yet been an American winner.

 was Marlon James, for his celebrated novel, "A Brief History of Seven Killings." James is from Jamaica, and teaches at Macalester College in St. Paul.

The newly announced longlist will be whittled down in the fall: Six finalists will be announced Sept. 13 and the winner of the $65,000 prize will be named Oct. 25.

Arts and Culture

The Thread® - Books and Literary News

NewsPartners

Associated Press

Author

MPR News Staff

The longlist for one of the world's most prestigious literary prizes is out, and it includes four debut novelists alongside established writers.

Eight of 13 books on Man Booker Prize longlist

2016 Man Booker Prize longlist announced

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox