The Shortlist was announced today for the 2020 Booker prize. The thirteen titles on the Longlist have been whittled down to this six:
- Diane Cook - The New Wilderness (USA)
- Tsitsi Dangarembga - This Mournable Body (Zimbabwe)
- Avni Doshi - Burnt Sugar (USA)
- Maaza Mengiste - The Shadow King (Ethiopia/USA)
- Douglas Stuart - Shuggie Bain (Scotland/USA)
- Brandon Taylor - Real Life (USA)
This is an interesting shortlist. The judges have bumped Hilary Mantel (thereby denying her the trifecta for her Cromwell trilogy) and have chosen five American/US based authors. While the snubbing of Mantel is one thing, but the over abundance of Americans on the shortlist will likely be the more controversial choice given the decision to allow non-Commonwealth nationalities into the running for these awards in 2014 is still a problematic for many in the publishing industry.
Of all these titles, the ones I am most interested in are the books by Cook and Stuart. The Winner of the £50,000 revealed in November.