Booker Prize 2023: Semifinalists Announced

Booker Prize recipients Marlon James and Douglas Stuart are once again contenders for the prestigious fiction prize. Their works are joined by stories of Dublin gangs, dystopian futures, and New England characters crafted by Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout.

The judges, who reviewed 163 novels, have selected 13 semifinalists for the £50,000 ($66,000) Booker Prize. Mary Beard, historian and head of the judging panel, described the list as literary ‘dynamite.’ Among the contenders are James’ ‘The Disappearers,’ exploring the lives of gay men in 1980s Jamaica, Stuart’s ‘John of John,’ which reveals father-son secrets on a remote Scottish island, and Strout’s touching narrative ‘The Things We Never Say.’

Marlon James previously won the Booker Prize in 2015 for ‘A Brief History of Seven Killings,’ while Douglas Stuart was honored in 2020 for ‘Shuggie Bain.’ Elizabeth Strout’s ‘Oh William!’ was a finalist last year, and her 2009 novel ‘Olive Kitteridge’ earned her the Pulitzer Prize.

The Booker longlist also features emerging voices, including debut authors. Turkish-American Kenan Orhan presents ‘The Renovation,’ a tale of family history. Rebecca Perry offers ‘May We Feed the King,’ bridging Medieval and modern themes, and Djamel White’s ‘All Them Dogs’ explores the Dublin underworld. At 28, White is the youngest author in the competition, while M. John Harrison, 81, enters with ‘The End of Everything,’ a post-apocalyptic novel.

Additional contenders on the list include ‘The Shadow of the Object’ by Chloe Aridjis, ‘Black Bag’ by Luke Kennard, ‘The Vivisectors’ by Missouri Williams, ‘Switzy’ by Emma Cline, ‘Helen of Nowhere’ by Makenna Goodman, and ‘The Palm House’ by Gwendoline Riley.

Mary Beard highlighted the panel’s approach to selection, which diverged from typical Booker narratives. Instead, the novels chosen push boundaries and offer new ways of understanding the human condition. ‘Sometimes they use humor, sometimes pathos, sometimes shock value,’ Beard noted.

Established in 1969, the Booker Prize is renowned for significantly boosting authors’ careers. It is open to novels from any country, provided they are published in the UK and Ireland. The previous year’s winner was ‘Flesh’ by Hungarian-British author David Szalay.

The judges plan to announce six finalists on September 22, with the winner to be revealed in a ceremony in London on November 9.