The Man Booker Prize 2024 has announced the shortlist of nominees. The winner will be announced on November 12.
Here are the nominees:
- James by Percival Everett;
- Orbital by Samantha Harvey;
- Creation Lake, by Rachel Kushner;
- Held, by Anne Michaels;
- The Safekeep, by Yael van der Wooden;
- Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood.
This year’s shortlist includes the largest number of women. In its 55-year history, the Prize has been awarded five times. Only one of the nominees is a man, the American writer Percival Everett. The list includes authors from five countries, including the Netherlands (for the first time), Australia (for the first time in 10 years), as well as Britain, Canada, and the United States. Two of the nominees have been shortlisted before.
In total, the jury chose from 156 books published between October 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024.
The books address various issues: how we hide our true selves from others and the contradictory nature of truth, and how traumatic stories, both personal and collective, shape and limit us, and accompany us no matter how far we go.
Each book on the shortlist reveals what we call “home.” The Booker organizers say that this year’s prize speaks to the fundamental human need to belong in a world where so many people feel lost and unwanted.