A Guide to 13 Books on the International Booker Prize 2023 Longlist

The International Booker Prize (also popularly known as the Man Booker International Prize) is one of the most recognized and prestigious literary awards in the world. Every year, since 2016, one translation of a book in a foreign language to English and published in the UK or Ireland is granted this prize, the title and a sum of £50,000 shared equally between the writer and the translator. Here are the 13 books on the International Booker Prize Longlist 2023 that you should remember to check out for their wonderful work in prose and translation.

Ninth Building by Zou Jingzhi. Translated by Jeremy Tiang

Pages: 272
Publisher: Honford Star (May 16, 2022)

The first book on the International Booker Longlist 2023 is a collection of vignettes. The author, Zou, revisits his experience as a boy and later a teenager in exile. In the process, we see the Cultural Revolution in a new, unprecedented way. The book is a realist fiction in first person that makes use of gallows humor to beat the bleakness of the socio-political scenario of Beijing during the Mao regime.

A Chinese playwright, poet, and essayist, Jingzhi is the founding member of the Chinese theatre collective Longmashe. He has written films for Zhang Yimou and Wong Kar Wai. Jeremy Tiang, the translator, is a Singapore-born writer and playwright. He won the 2018 Singapore Literature Prize for his debut novel, State of Emergency (2017).

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A System So Magnificent It Is Blinding by Amanda Svensson. Translated by Nichola Smalley

Pages: 544
Publisher: Scribe UK (July 14, 2022)

The second book on the International Booker Longlist 2023 follows the story of three triplets born to a couple in October 1989. Fast forward to two decades later, Sebastian meets a patient Laura Kadinsky at the London Institute of Cognitive Science, Clara joins a doomsday cult, and Matilda tries to evade herself from the color blue in Sweden. Their worried mother calls them to inform them about their missing father and, in the process, spills out a twenty-five years-old secret. This book takes you on a smart, funny, and engaging journey around emotions and human relationships, where you find out how the lives of the triplets swing around after this phone call.

Amanda Svensson is a Swedish author. She studied literature, science, and French at Lunds University and debuted as an author in 2008 with Hey Dolly, which is an experimental young-adult novel featuring an unreliable narrator. Nicola Smalley, the translator, has a Ph.D. in exploring the use of contemporary urban vernaculars in Swedish and UK rap and literature from the UCL. Her translation of Andrezej Tichy’s Wretchedness also won the Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize.

Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel. Translated by Rosalind Harvey

Pages: 200
Publisher: Fitzcarraldo Editions (September 1, 2020)

In the third book on the International Book Longlist 2023, we are driven into the lives of Alina and Laura and a consequential decision – to have or not to have a child. The two women are in their mid-thirties and are independent and career-driven. Laura decides to get sterilized, while Alina expresses her desire for a child. Complications arise in Alina’s pregnancy, and Laura becomes too close to their neighbor’s son in this heart-wrenching novel that seeks to explore the spectrum of maternal ambivalence in modern-day women, touching upon several grey areas with a surgeon’s precision.

Mexican writer Guadalupe Nettel has earned a Ph.D. in linguistics from the School of Advances Studies in Social Sciences, Paris. She has written four novels and many short stories belonging to varied genres and contributed to several magazines, including The New York Times and Granta. They have also been translated into around 17 languages. She serves as the editor of the oldest cultural magazine in Mexico. Rosalind Harvey, the translator, lives in Bristol and generally translates Hispanic writing. Her translation of Juan Pablo Villalobos’ book, ‘Down the Rabbit Hole,’ was shortlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld prize. 

Pyre by Perumal Murugan. Translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan

Pages: 200
Publisher: Hamish Hamilton (January 1, 2016)

The fourth book on the International Booker Longlist 2023 takes us to a remote village in Tamil Nadu, India, known as Kattuppatti. Here resides Saroja and Kumaresan, an inter-caste couple who have secretly married. Back in Kumaresan’s village, his mother insults Saroja and constantly comments on her behavior and upbringing based on her caste. Unlike Kumaresan’s belief, the intrigue around his wife and her caste doesn’t die down with time but only gathers more and more suspicion until the truth unfolds. This is Murugan’s prose at its devastating best.

Tamil-born writer Perumal Murugan is one of India’s most renowned scholars and literary chroniclers. He has obtained an M.Phil and Ph.D. from Madras University in Tamil Studies. He has published around ten novels, five short story collections, and four anthologies of poetry. The translation of his novel, ‘Seasons of the Palm,’ was also shortlisted for the Kiriyama Prize in 2005. A sociocultural anthropologist, Aniruddhan Vasudevan, holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Texas, Austin. He has also translated three other books by Murugan: ‘One Part Woman’, ‘A Lonely Harvest’, and ‘Trial by Silence’.

While We Were Dreaming by Clemens Meyer. Translated by Katy Derbyshire

Pages: 528
Publisher: Fitzcarraldo Editions (March 30, 2023)

The fifth book on the International Booker Longlist 2023 is an extraordinary coming-of-age novel. The four protagonists, Richo, Mark, Daniel, and Paul, were teenagers when the historic fall of the Berlin Wall took place in 1989 and grew up dreaming of a better life, longing for freedom and real love, drinking and stealing cars, and fighting to survive in Leipzig society fraught with reunification. It is narrated by Daniel, who also highlights Meyers’ own experiences as a child growing up in this socio-political climate. This raw, moving novel full of auto-fictional accounts is on its way to becoming a German classic!

German writer Clemens Meyer worked as a security guard, forklift driver, and construction worker before he dibbed his feet into the world of writing. He studied creative writing at the German Literary Institute, Leipzig. His book, ‘Bricks and Mortar’, was longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2017. Katy Derbyshire, the translator, helped establish the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. Originally from London, she has lived for two decades in Berlin and occasionally teaches translation and co-hosts a translation lab.

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The Birthday Party by Laurent Mauvignier. Translated by Daniel Levin Becker

Pages: 454
Publisher: Transit Books (January 24, 2o23)

The sixth book on the International Booker Longlist is a French psychological thriller set in rural France. It is written in rhythmic, propulsive prose that weaves in the story of a home invasion by hostile strangers. It gives it a literary spin, juggling heavy-weight themes, from marital frustration to white masculinity and abuse. It is Marion’s 40th birthday, and her husband, daughter, and neighbor are in for a stream of unprecedented events in this noir-ish story.

French writer Laurent Mauvignier is a prolific writer and playwright and has won around 11 literary prizes, including the Prix des Libraires and Prix Amerigo-Vespucci. He studied visual arts but decided to become a writer following the advice of his friend and novelist, Tanguy Viel. Daniel Levin Becker, the translator, lives in Paris and works primarily as the founding editor of Fern Books, English nonfiction editor for Odile Jacob, senior editor at McSweeney’s Publishing, and a long-term contributing editor to The Believer.

Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv by Andrey Kurkov. Translated by Reuben Woolley

Pages: ebook
Publisher: MacLehose Press (March 2, 2023)

The seventh book on the International Booker Longlist 2023 is a book fueled by magic realism and black humor with a strong hint of political commentary on Ukraine’s affairs. Strange things start happening in Lviv, western Ukraine. The three characters in this book are, in fact, based on real-life acquaintances of the author and are intrigued by the environmental anomalies that make the city smell of the sea. You may think of this book as the author’s love letter to Lviv.

Ukrainian author Andrey Yuryevich Kurkov writes in Russian and has written around 19 novels, nine books for children, and around 20 scripts for TV movies, documentaries, and fiction. He was elected as the President of PEN Ukraine in 2018. One of the most successful authors in the post-Soviet era, his books are full of surrealism, black humor, and commentary on post-Soviet reality. Reuben Woolley, the translator, often reviews books for Rights in Russia and received a BA in English and Russian from Oxford University in 2021. He is currently finishing his MS in Comparative Literature and Critical Translation.

Is Mother Dead by Vigdis Hjorth. Translated by Charlotte Barslund

Pages: 330
Publisher: Verso Fiction (September 27, 2022)

The eighth book on the International Booker Longlist 2023 follows the lives of an aging mother and a middle-aged woman, narrated from the latter’s perspective – an artist named Johanna. Their relationship is obsessive, abusive, and toxic on all levels. This is a disturbing story that relays its flashbacks as hauntingly as it describes the physical stalking involved between the mother and daughter. 

Norwegian novelist Vigdis Hjorth, also a writer of children’s books, has been longlisted for the National Book Award. Her book, ‘Om bare’ (2001), is popularly believed to be one of her most important works. Charlotte Barslund, the translator, has worked with several Scandinavian authors, including Samuel Bjork, Jakob Melander, and Jesper Stein. Her translation of Per Petterson’s ‘I Curse the River of Time’ was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Award in 2011. She currently lives in Oslo. 

Standing Heavy by GauZ. Translated by Frank Wynne

Pages: 164
Publisher: MacLehose Press (May 1, 2022)

The ninth book on the International Booker Longlist 2023 offers us a unique insight into a security guard’s gaze, deconstructing the notions of consumerism, colonial legacies, and capitalism in the process. At the backdrop of an ever-changing political landscape fraught with tensions around the ever-changing French immigration policy, the book jumps across three periods in history and the lives of three interconnected undocumented men who work as security guards in Paris. The book is a crude satire that meditates on social inequality, racism, and colonialism through a fragmented narrative.

GauZ, an Ivorian author and journalist, studied biochemistry and then moved to Paris undocumented. He worked as a security guard. This is his first novel, initially published in 2014, followed by Comrade Papa and Black Manoo. Frank Wynne, the translator, has worked with a wide variety of authors in his 20 years-long careers. His translation of Vernon Subutex One by Virginie Despentes was also shortlisted for the International Man Booker Prize in 2018. He was also the Chair of Judges for the International Booker Prize 2022. 

Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov. Translated by Angela Rodel

Pages: 304
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (April 21, 2023)

The tenth book on the International Booker Longlist 2023 follows our unnamed narrator, who works at a clinic to offer treatment to people suffering from Alzheimer’s. Each floor of this “clinic for the past” is meticulously decorated to reproduce in minute detail each decade for the patients to feel at home. However, more and more healthy people start seeking this clinic as a “time shelter,” with the past invading the present in this remarkably smart and philosophical novel.  

Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov is considered to be one of the leading voices of European literature. His works reflect the anxieties of present-day Europe and the recent Eastern-European cultures, which have been translated into around two dozen languages. He began his career as a poet, writing two books that received accolades internationally. His short story collection, And Other Stories (2001), was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor Award. Angela Rodel, the translator whose translation of Gospodinov’s second novel, Physics of Sorrow, won her the AATSEEL Prize for Literary Translation in 2016. She is also a musician who lives in Bulgaria.

The Gospel According to the New World by Maryse Conde. Translated by Richard Philcox

Pages: 184
Publisher: World Editions (March 7, 2023)

One of the books on the International Booker Longlist 2023 is a strikingly beautiful book of miracles. It reads out like a stylized gospel and follows a linear biographical structure. Baby Pascal is born on Easter Sunday, and there is speculation around him (that is going to be around throughout the baby’s life) that he may be the son of God. Pascal sets out in search of his origins and will have to figure out the true meaning of his mission. It is a funny, poignant, and lighthearted treat!

Popularly believed to be the Grande Dame of Caribbean Literature, Condé was also shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2015. Her works have garnered worldwide praise, and she has won several important literary awards, including the New Academy Prize in Literature and the Cino Del Duca World Award. She taught Francophone Literature at Columbia University in New York and has lived in several West African countries. Richard Philcox, the translator, is Condé’s husband. He has taught translation to numerous students on American college campuses. He has won grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts for translating Condé’s works. He has also published translations of a few of Frantz Fanon’s works.

Whale by Cheon Myeong-kwan. Translated by Chi-Young Kim

Pages: 420
Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press (November 23, 2016)

The penultimate book on the International Booker Longlist 2023 is an adventure satire that brings to light the transition from pre-modern to post-modern society in Korea. It is set in a remote Korean village and follows the story of three women – Geumbok, an ambitious woman who has been thrilled since she spotted a whale crest; Chunhui, her mute daughter; and a woman who can control the honeybees by whistling to them. This story brims with humor and surprises and brings to light a portrait of a society fraught with brutal oppression, growing inequality, and corruption, among others. 

South Korean novelist, director, and screenwriter Cheon Myeong-kwan has written numerous screenplays for films, including Gun and Gun (1995) and The Great Chef (1999). He started writing books in an attempt to make better money. His first short, Frank and I (2003), set him on a successful writing career path, winning him the Munhakdongne New Writer Award. Today, his works have been translated into eight languages. Chi Young-Kim, the translator, received training to become a lawyer but has translated more than 12 books today. She has also received the Man Asian Literary Prize and currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

Boulder by Eva Baltasar. Translated by Julia Sanches

Pages: 112
Publisher: And Other Stories (August 2, 2022)

In the last book on the International Booker Longlist 2023, we board a merchant ship to go on a journey with our protagonist. She used to work as a mess-hall cook in a camp on the coast of Chile but decided to board this ship in search of an uncertain future. For the next few years, she travels up and down the South American coast, and her life falls into a rhythm of repetitive labor until she meets the Icelandic woman, Samsa, whom she instantly lusts after. Later, she decides to settle into a landlocked life with Samsa, who has been nicknamed the narrator Boulder, but her emotions are about to sway in the opposite direction. This is a modern queer love story that dives into the existentialism around solitude, motherhood, and love.

Eva Baltasar is a poet who has written ten volumes of poetry and is a critically acclaimed author. Their first novel, Permafrost, contested in the Prix Medicis 2020 for the Best Foreign Book and won the Premi Libreter in 2018. Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Julia Sanches (the translator) is one of the founding members of the Cedilla & Co. translators’ collective. She is a prolific translator who has translated works from Spanish, Catalan, and Portuguese.