Man Booker Prize 2015: Here are the authors who made the shortlist
-
Molly Driscoll Staff writer
The shortlist for the prestigious Man Booker Prize was recently released.聽
Author Anne Tyler made the list for her work 鈥淎 Spool of Blue Thread,鈥� as did Chigozie Obioma for Obioma鈥檚 book 鈥淭he Fishermen.鈥� Sunjeev Sahota made the cut for the book 鈥淭he Year of the Runaways鈥� and so did Hanya Yanagihara for 鈥淎 Little Life,鈥� Marlon James for 鈥淎 Brief History of Seven Killings,鈥� and Tom McCarthy for 鈥淪atin Island.鈥澛�
With 鈥淜illings鈥� having made the cut, James became the first Jamaican author to have his or her work appear on the Man Booker shortlist.聽
The winner of this year鈥檚 Man Booker Prize will be announced on Oct. 13 (so no, you don鈥檛 have much time to try to read all these).
Last year鈥檚 Man Booker Prize was taken by author Richard Flanagan, who won for his work 鈥淭he Narrow Road to the Deep North.鈥澛�
The Man Booker Prize, which has been won by authors including Hilary Mantel, Julian Barnes, and Anne Enright, encountered controversy last year after those behind the prize announced that any book that was released in English and was available in Britain would be eligible for it. Before then, only writers who hailed from Britain, Ireland, Zimbabwe, or one of the Commonwealth countries could be eligible for the award.
The move was welcomed by some in the literary community and decried by others. 鈥淭he world has changed and it no longer makes sense to split up the writing world in this way,鈥� Kazuo Ishigoro of 鈥淣ever Let Me Go鈥� at the time. But author Linda Grant said she thought the decision wasn鈥檛 a good one because those who aren't US citizens can鈥檛 win another major prize, the Pulitzer.聽
鈥淭here are two career-changing prizes, the Booker and the Pulitzer,鈥� she . 鈥淚f the Booker is open to US authors, it will create a huge imbalance.鈥�
