The 2020 International Booker Prize Shortlist is mostly women (again).
Today, the Booker Prize committee announced the shortlist for this year’s International Booker Prize—awarded annually to the best book written in any language, translated into English, and published in the UK or Ireland. The prize, £50,000, will be split evenly between author and translator of the winning book.
“Our shortlist transcends this unprecedented moment, immersing us in expansively imagined lives that hold enduring fascination,” said Ted Hodgkinson, Chair of Judges, in the announcement.
For the second year in a row, all but one of the shortlisted books were written by women. Here’s the list:
Shokoofeh Azar, The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, translated from Farsi by an Anonymous translator (Europa Editions)
Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, The Adventures of China Iron, translated from Spanish by Iona Macintyre and Fiona Mackintosh (Charco Press)
Daniel Kehlmann, Tyll, translated from German by Ross Benjamin (Quercus)
Fernanda Melchor, Hurricane Season, translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
Yoko Ogawa, The Memory Police, translated from Japanese by Stephen Snyder (Harvill Secker)
Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, The Discomfort of Evening, translated from Dutch by Michele Hutchison (Faber & Faber)
