The judges of the 2020 International Booker Prize, on Thursday, announced the ‘International Booker Dozen’, the 13 novels longlisted for the prestigious award celebrating the finest translated fiction from around the world.

The prize is awarded every year for a single book that is translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland.

Aimed to encourage more publishing and reading of foreign novels, the ‘International Booker Dozen’ is the foreign-speaking alternative to the Booker Prize, where books that have been translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland are recognised.

The contribution of both author and translator is given equal recognition, with the £50,000 prize split between them. Each shortlisted author and translator will receive £1,000, bringing the total value of the prize to £62,000.

This year the judges considered 124 books.

The longlist was selected by a panel of five judges, chaired by Ted Hodgkinson, Head of Literature and Spoken Word at Southbank Centre.

The panel also includes: Lucie Campos, director of the Villa Gillet, France’s centre for international writing; Man Booker International Prize-winning translator and writer Jennifer Croft; LA Times Book Prize for Fiction-winning author Valeria Luiselli and writer, poet and musician Jeet Thayil, whose novel Narcopolis was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2012.

Ted Hodgkinson says:

“What a thrill to share a longlist of such breadth and brilliance, reflecting a cumulative artistry rooted in dialogue between authors and translators, and possessing a power to enlarge the scope of lives encountered on the page, from the epic to the everyday.

“Whether reimagining foundational myths, envisioning dystopias of disquieting potency, or simply setting the world ablaze with the precision of their perceptions, these are books that left indelible impressions on us as judges.

“In times that increasingly ask us to take sides, these works of art transcend moral certainties and narrowing identities, restoring a sense of the wonderment at the expansive and ambiguous lot of humanity.”

The shortlist for the 2020 International Booker Prize will be announced on Thursday, 2 April, at an event at Ennismore Sessions House in London.

Together, the two Booker Prizes reward the best fiction from around the globe that is published in English in the UK and Ireland. The Booker Prizes are sponsored by Crankstart, the charitable foundation of Sir Michael Moritz and his wife, Harriet Heyman.

 

The full 2020 International Booker Prize longlist is: