Booker Prize Shortlist announced

Lee Child and his fellow Booker Prize judges have announced the shortlist for this year’s awards. Widely regarded as the UK’s foremost literary award, the Booker Prize recognises the best novel written in English and published in the UK and Ireland.

This year’s nominees for the £50,000 award are Diane Cook, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Avni Doshi, Maaza Mengiste, Douglas Stuart and Brandon Taylor.

Last year’s winner, Bernardine Evaristo, wrote “[I’m] so excited by this groundbreaking shortlist for the 21st century […] If you’re looking for fresh perspectives and narratives, surely you’re going to find it among the most underrepresented voices?”

Surprising to many will be the omission of Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light, given that both titles in her trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, had previously won the Prize.

Commenting on Mantel’s omission, Lee Child said: “We thought it was an absolutely wonderful novel, no question about it… but there were books that were better, that’s all I can say personally.”

The winner will be announced on 17 November. Find out more about the shortlisted novels here.