Friday, April 13, 2007

2007 Man Booker International Prize

THE FOLLOWING WRITERS have been shortlisted for the second Man Booker International Prize for Fiction, a prize awarded for a lifetime of fiction writing or a body of work rather than an individual piece of fiction. The first Man Booker International Prize in 2005 was awarded to Albanian dissident novelist and poet Ismail Kadaré. What we have here is obviously a very strong shortlist of literary heavyweights comprising seven former Booker Prize winners (and a winner of the Booker of Bookers), a Pulitzer Prize winner and some of the best Canadian writers: Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro and Michael Ondaatje. Peter Carey, of course, has won the Booker Prize twice. And four writers who write in their mother tongue: Carlos Fuentes, Harry Mulisch, Amos Oz and Michel Tournier.

Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)
Margaret Atwood (Canada)
John Banville (Ireland)
Peter Carey (Australia)
Don DeLillo (U.S.)
Carlos Fuentes (Mexico) (Spanish)
Doris Lessing (Britain)
Ian McEwan (Britain)
Harry Mulisch (Netherlands) (Dutch)
Alice Munro (Canada)
Michael Ondaatje (Canada)
Amos Oz (Israel) (Hebrew)
Philip Roth (U.S.)
Salman Rushdie (Britain)
Michel Tournier (France) (French)

The winner will be announced in June 2007

Harry Mulisch, a hot favourite to win the 2007 Man Booker International Prize for his exploration and dissection of morally complex themes in a wide variety of genres and subtle infusion of irony and playfulness

5 Comments:

Blogger The Angry Medic said...

Whoa! Salman Rushdie made the list? Way to go for such a controversial writer.

When were these announced, Eric? I was watching out for them but here is the first I'm seeing of it. (Then again, I spend most of my days nowadays holed up in the library with a plastic skeleton for company...)

Thanks for the update!

Friday, April 13, 2007 4:02:00 PM  
Blogger Eric Forbes said...

The shortlist for 2007 Man Booker International Prize for Fiction was announced by Professor Elaine Showalter at Massey College in Toronto, Canada, on April 12, 2007.

Saturday, April 14, 2007 12:17:00 AM  
Blogger bibliobibuli said...

mulisch a favourite?? says who, eric?

i will feel very cheated and get very angry if it isn't atwood, carey, lessing or ... maybe rushdie

angry medic - last thursday night (canadian time)

Sunday, April 15, 2007 4:12:00 AM  
Blogger Eric Forbes said...

Sharon - I have a predilection for fiction in translation and tend to favour them, I'm afraid. We must admit that what we have here is a very strong shortlist. Any one of them could very well win the Man Booker International Prize. I guess it is just a matter of preference on the part of us readers. If you had only one choice, who do you think should clinch the prize?

I favour Harry Mulisch of the Netherlands for his exploration and dissection of morally complex themes in a wide variety of genres and a subtle infusion of irony and playfulness in his consistently well written narratives. However, it is a shame that not many of his books have been translated from the Dutch to English. This accounts for the fact that not many people have heard of him. For those who would like to explore Mulisch should check out The Discovery of Heaven (Dutch: 1992; English: 1996, trans. Paul Vincent), considered by many to be his magnum opus, a very engaging piece of literature, albeit a heavyweight tome.

Sunday, April 15, 2007 5:07:00 PM  
Blogger bibliobibuli said...

have you actually read him though eric??

Wednesday, April 25, 2007 5:36:00 AM  

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