‘Original and thrilling’ longlist for the Booker Prize 2023 is announced
The longlist features work from four continents, four Irish writers, four debut novelists – and ten authors who are recognised by the Booker for the first time
The longlist for this year’s Booker Prize – the world’s most influential prize for a single work of fiction – is announced today, Tuesday, August 1, 2023.
The 13 books explore universal and topical themes: from deeply moving personal dramas to tragi-comic family sagas; from the effects of climate change to the oppression of minorities; from scientific breakthroughs to competitive sport.
The titles that make up this year’s longlist are as follows (click the links to read more about them):
A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry
Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein
If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffrey
How To Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney
This Other Eden by Paul Harding
Pearl by Siân Hughes
All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
Ten writers are recognised by the Booker Prize for the first time, while the three other authors have seven previous Booker nominations between them. The longlist also includes four debut novelists, writers from seven countries across four continents, as well as four Irish writers, who make up a third of the longlist for the first time.
Novelist Esi Edugyan, twice-shortlisted for the Booker Prize, is the chair of the 2023 judging panel and is joined by actor, writer and director Adjoa Andoh; poet, lecturer, editor and critic Mary Jean Chan; Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and Shakespeare specialist James Shapiro; and actor and writer Robert Webb.
The judges are looking for the best work of long-form fiction, written in English, selected from entries published in the UK and Ireland between October 1, 2022 and September 30, 2023.
Esi Edugyan said:
‘We read 163 novels across seven months, and in that time whole worlds opened to us. We were transported to early 20th-century Maine and Penang, to the vibrant streets of Lagos and the squash courts of London, to the blackest depths of the Atlantic, and into a dystopic Ireland where the terrifying loss of rights comes as a hard warning.
‘The list is defined by its freshness – by the irreverence of new voices, by the iconoclasm of established ones. All 13 novels cast new light on what it means to exist in our time, and they do so in original and thrilling ways. Their range is vast, both in subject and form: they shocked us, made us laugh, filled us with anguish, but above all they stayed with us. This is a list to excite, challenge, delight, a list to bring wonder. The novels are small revolutions, each seeking to energise and awaken the language. Together – whether historical or contemporary – they offer startling portraits of the current.’
Gaby Wood, Chief Executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, said:
‘The range of experience, expertise and sensibility among this year’s judges led them to seek novels that both advanced the form and allowed the reader to understand something about the world; books that would have impact and longevity; books that moved them – and above all, books of such excellence and subtlety that the judges looked forward to re-reading them.
‘It’s a pleasure to add to the Booker Library this selection of debut novels, new work from established Booker authors, and books by other writers at the peak of their practice who are new to the prize. We hope every reader finds something to love on this year’s list.’
The shortlist of six books will be announced on September 21, 2023. The winner of the £50,000 prize will be announced on November 26.
Visit the Booker Prize website at the link below to read more about the 2023 longlist.
And finally…
Ever wondered how the Booker Prize prize judging process works? Watch our new film.
What do you think of the longlist? Which books are you planning to read first, or have you already read some of them? Let us know in the comments
Really interesting longlist, I haven't read any of these yet and some sound right up my street - and so begins the internal struggle to stick to my plan of just reading the shortlist when it's announced!
I just went to my local library network and ordered as many of these as were available (I'm in line for 8 out of 13 now). I have not read any of these authors and am looking forward to seeing what is offered by the long list this year.