Friday 3 April 2009

Man Booker International Prize 2009 – the contenders

Oscar and Lucinda, by Peter CareyFourteen authors from twelve different countries have been listed as contenders for the third Man Booker International Prize. Seven of the authors are writers in translation. They are:
Peter Carey (Australia)
Evan S. Connell (USA)
Mahasweta Devi (India)
E.L. Doctorow (USA)
James Kelman (UK)
Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)
Arnošt Lustig (Czechoslovakia)
Alice Munro (Canada)
V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad/India)
Joyce Carol Oates (USA)
Antonio Tabucchi (Italy)
Ngugi Wa Thiong'O (Kenya)
Dubravka Ugresic (Croatia)
Ludmila Ulitskaya (Russia)

The Man Booker International Prize differs from the annual Man Booker Prize for Fiction in that it highlights one writer's continued creativity, development and overall contribution to fiction on the world stage. It is awarded every two years. The contenders were selected by a judging panel chaired by Jane Smiley. She was joined by Amit Chaudhuri and Andrei Kurkov. Three of the contenders have previously won the annual Man Booker Prize for Fiction. Peter Carey won the Booker Prize twice - in 1988 (Oscar and Lucinda) and in 2001 (True History of the Kelly Gang). James Kelman won the Booker Prize in 1994 with How Late It Was, How Late. V.S. Naipaul won the Booker Prize in 1971 with In A Free State. The winner of this year's Man Booker International Prize will be announced in May 2009. The location for the prize giving moves each time and this year the winner will be presented with their award at a ceremony in Trinity College, Dublin on 25 June. In 2005 the prize was awarded to Ismail Kadare in Edinburgh. In 2007 it went to Chinua Achebe in Oxford.

No comments: