The longlist for the 2019 Booker Prize is out, but readers will have to wait a little while to pick up copies of a few of the contenders, with books such as The Testaments not due out until September 2019.
This list, hotly anticipated by bibliophiles everywhere, is notoriously difficult to predict, and 2019 is no exception.
The 13 books up for the top prize consist predominately of British writers, and for the first time since they were deemed eligible, America writers represent only one of the ‘Booker Dozen’, Lucy Ellman’s large and ambitious single sentence novel Ducks, Newburyport.
Previous winners Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie have both been longlisted for their forthcoming novels, as has Deborah Levy who has been previously shortlisted. My Sister The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite is the only debut to have made the list this year, but comes out of the gates on a strong footing, having been in the running for the Women’s Prize for Fiction earlier in 2019.
Also making the list are literary heavyweights Jeanette Winterson, Elif Shafak, John Lanchester, Max Porter and Chigozie Obioma. Kevin Barry, Valeria Luiselli, and Bernadine Evaristo round out the list of thirteen authors.
One notable omission from this year’s longlist is Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan. However, an Australian writer has not been longlisted for the prize since Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North won in 2014.
One thing is for certain; at this point, the winner is anyone’s guess.
At a glance: The Longlist
The Testaments – Margaret Atwood
Quichotte – Salman Rushdie
Night Boat to Tangier – Kevin Barry
My Sister, The Serial Killer – Oyinkan Braithwaite
Ducks, Newburyport – Lucy Ellman
Girl, Woman, Other – Bernadine Evaristo
The Wall – John Lanchester
The Man Who Saw Everything – Deborah Levy
Lost Children Archive – Valeria Luiselli
An Orchestra of Minorities – Chigozie Obioma
Lanny – Max Porter
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World – Elif Shafak
Frankissstein – Jeanette Winterson
The shortlist for the 2019 Booker Prize will be announced on September 3rd.
Header Image: Booker Official
