2019 Man Booker International Prize

I should have done this two months ago, when the longlist was announced, but for the past two or three years I've been buying and reading some of the books that have been longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize, which changed its format in 2016 from a biennial award given to an author's body of work to a prize given to the best work of fiction that was translated into English and was published in the UK, and replaced the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. The award is split between the author and the translator. The previous winners are:

2016: The Vegetarian by Han Kang (South Korea), translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith
2017: A Horse Walks Into a Bar by David Grossman (Israel), translated from the Hebrew by Jessica Cohen
2018: Flights by Olga Tokarczuk (Poland), translated from the Polish by Jennifer Croft

I've become more fond and interested in the MBIP in comparison to the Man Booker Prize since its change in format. Its structure is similar to the Man Booker Prize, with a 12 or 13 book longlist, and a six book shortlist, but larger publishers whose authors have made past Booker shortlists do not have an advantage over smaller houses, and works by lesser known authors or ones from outside of the UK or US are not overlooked by a glut of books from those countries. Some of my favorite novels have come from past longlists, such as A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler, Judas by Amos Oz, Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck, and The Impostor by Javier Cercas, along with the winning books in 2016 and 2017.

The longlist for this year's prize was released on March 13th, the longlist was revealed on April 19th, and the winning book will be announced in London on May 21st:



*Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi (Oman), translated from Arabic by Marilyn Booth (Sandstone Press)
Love in the New Millennium by Can Xue (China), translated by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen (Yale University Press)
*The Years by Annie Ernaux (France), translated by Alison Strayer (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
At Dusk by Hwang Sok-yong (South Korea), translated by Sora Kim-Russell (Scribe)
Jokes for the Gunmen by Mazen Maarouf (Iceland and Palestine), translated from Arabic by Jonathan Wright (Granta)
Four Soldiers by Hubert Mingarelli (France), translated from French by Sam Taylor (Granta)
*The Pine Islands by Marion Poschmann (Germany), translated by Jen Calleja (Serpent’s Tail)
Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin (Argentina and Italy), translated from Spanish by Megan McDowell (Oneworld)
The Faculty of Dreams by Sara Stridsberg (Sweden), translated by Deborah Bragan-Turner (Quercus)
*Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (Poland), translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
*The Shape of the Ruins by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Colombia), translated from Spanish by Anne McLean (MacLehose Press)
The Death of Murat Idrissi by Tommy Wieringa (Netherlands), translated by Sam Garrett (Scribe)
*The Remainder by Alia Trabucco Zerán (Chile and Italy), translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes (And Other Stories)

*shortlisted titles

So far I've read The Shape of the Ruins by Juan Gabriel Vásquez and The Remainder by Alia Trabucco Zerán, and I should finish Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi later today or tomorrow. I intend to read the entire shortlist by the 21st, as I own all six books, and buy some of the more interesting novels on the longlist later this month.

I'll create my own thread with reviews of the shortlisted books I've read, as I think it's too late to create separate threads for all of the longlisted books, and it might be too confusing to have MBP and MBIP threads going, and I doubt that many people are reading MBIP books. Please let me know if you think differently, and if so I'd be happy to create MBIP threads, either this year or starting in 2020.

Are any of you reading or following the MBIP? If so, please let us know.

I've read Les Années, which I enjoyed very much and got me reading much of Ernaux's back-catalogue.

Will try to read one or two of the others.

I'm glad that you enjoyed The Years, Mark. I've read—wow—seven of Annie Ernaux's books, six of which I've rated four stars or higher, and I'll probably read this book next.

I've read Mouthful of Birds and I liked it, but think it's less effective than Fever Dream.

I've got the Ernaux now and hope to read it soon.

Thanks for the list.

Thanks to a subscription to And Other Stories I've read The Remainder. It's a very strong statement on how life under Pinochet still haunts Chileans into the next generations.