The judges for the 2009 Man Booker International Prize announced the 14 writers from 12 different countries on the longlist for the £60,000 (roughly $83,700) award. The judges, from left to right, were Andrey Kurkov, chair Jane Smiley, and Amit Chaudhuri.
While creating the longlist, the judges read between 200 and 250 books by 80 different authors. American authors on the list included: Joyce Carol Oates, E.L. Doctorow, and Evan S. Connell. The winner will be announced in early May.
During the proceedings, the judges fielded a number of questions about translated literature and American literary isolation. “American publishers don’t take risks,” said judge Andrey Kurkov, referring to the United States’ low percentage of translated books every year. “Loyalties were to particular books, not particular regions,” judging chair Jane Smiley explained. The entire shortlist follows after the jump…
Peter Carey (Australia)
Evan S. Connell (USA)
Mahasweta Devi (India)
E.L. Doctorow (USA)
James Kelman (UK)
Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)
Arnost Lustig (Czechoslovakia)
Alice Munro (Canada)
V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad/India)
Joyce Carol Oates (USA)
Antonio Tabucchi (Italy)
Ngugi Wa Thiong’O (Kenya)
Dubravka Ugresic (Croatia)
Ludmila Ulitskaya (Russia)