Judges of the Man Booker International Prize have broken through from a parallel universe where these ten writers are their finalists for a newish lifetime achievement award given only every other year. You'll note the complete absence of authors who are Spanish, Latino, African, or Arab:
U R Ananthamurthy
(India)
Aharon Appelfeld
(Israel)
Lydia Davis
(USA)
Intizar Husain (Pakistan)
Yan Lianke
(China)
Marie NDiaye
(France)
Josip Novakovich
(Canada)
Marilynne Robinson
(USA)
Vladimir Sorokin (Russia)
Peter Stamm
(Switzerland)
Unedited, expat judge Tim Parks said to the press, "Ten wonderful authors, nine of whom I didn't know before I started reading for this prize." Yikes, dude.
If you don't know Yan Lianke, his Dream of Ding Village [Kindle
] is an aids novel that was shortlisted for the Asia Booker and his most recent Lenin's Kisses
[Kindle] was named a best book of 2012 by The New Yorker, MacLeans, and Kirkus. I was as happy as you when a black woman won the Prix Goncourt in 2009, and last summer Knopf finally brought out the English translation of Marie NDiaye's Three Strong Women [Kindle]. Readers of a certain bent may be able to queer their experience of Lydia Davis's novel The End of the Story
about an unnamed narrator's obsession with a much younger male ex-lover. And fans of northern wonders Tove Jansson
, Gerbrand Bakker
, and Per Petterson
should certainly seek Peter Stamm's short novel Unformed Landscapes about Kathrine, a woman who has never been below the Arctic Circle until she abandons her husband and son.
The winner of the Man Booker International will be announced May 22.
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