Britain’s Booker Prize for Fiction holds its first major award since 2019 on Monday with six novels in the running – including oldest author nominated to date and shortest book.
Queen Consort Camilla will present the coveted award at the televised ceremony, in one of her most high-profile performances since her husband, King Charles III, ascended the throne last month.
The evening event will also feature a speech by singer-songwriter Dua Lipa, which continues to a packed in-person audience in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
All but one of the six shortlisted authors will be present in person. England’s Alan Garner, who turns 88 on Monday, is expected to perform virtually.
Garner, who has made a name for himself with children’s fantasy titles and popular retelling, is shortlisted for Treacle Walker, which is the shortest shortest finalist novel by word count.
“They are not easy books, although they may be short,” said Neil MacGregor, chairman of the 2022 jury, of the final six.
“But like many great joys, some hard work is required, and we found them to be well worth the effort,” he said.
The shortlist will feature an equal split of men and women for the £50,000 ($56,000) prize, which could provide a career-changing boost in sales and public profile.
NoViolet Bulawayo made it a second time for Glory, an animal fable set in her native Zimbabwe, while Sri Lanka’s Shehan Karunatilaka was the only other non-British Isles or Indian writer with The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida originated in the United States”.
American Percival Everett was inducted for “Trees,” earning independent publisher Influx Press its #1 spot on the booker shortlist.
US author Elizabeth Strout starred in “Oh William!” Irish author Claire Keegan’s “Small Things Like These” completes the shortlist.
At 116 pages, Keegan’s is the shortest finalist by page count in the award’s 53-year history.
The Booker is Britain’s premier literary prize for English language novels. Past recipients include Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel.
Monday’s ceremony is set to include a special tribute to Mantel, who died last month at the age of 70.
She was the first British writer and first woman to win the award twice with the first two novels in her Wolf Hall trilogy.
British-Turkish author Elif Shafak, meanwhile, will discuss the consequences for writers worldwide after Rushdie was stabbed onstage during a US performance in August.
