The 2024 Booker Prize shortlist has been announced, and it’s making history with the largest number of women represented in its 55-year history. Out of the six authors on the shortlist, five are women, marking a significant milestone for the prestigious literary award.
Authors from five different countries are represented on the shortlist, including the Netherlands for the first time. The list includes former Women’s Prize winner Anne Michaels, American writer Percival Everett, and British author Samantha Harvey. Each shortlisted author will receive £2,500, and the winner, to be announced on 12 November, will take home £50,000.
The Booker Prize is open to works of fiction written in English by authors from anywhere in the world and published in the UK or Ireland. The shortlist includes a diverse range of novels, from spy thrillers to family sagas, exploring themes of memory, friendship, and love.
Two of the novelists, Percival Everett and Rachel Kushner, have previously been shortlisted for the award. Everett’s novel, “James,” is a retelling of Mark Twain’s classic “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” while Kushner’s “Creation Lake” is a gripping spy thriller set in rural France.
The judging panel, led by chair Edmund de Waal, praised the six novels on the shortlist, describing them as “seriously good novels” that inspire readers to keep on reading and sharing with others. The panel highlighted the diverse storytelling and complex themes explored in the shortlisted books.
One of the standout novels on the shortlist is “The Safekeep” by Yael van der Wouden, a debut novel set in post-Nazi era Netherlands, telling a queer love story that challenges societal norms. Another notable novel is “Stone Yard Devotion” by Charlotte Wood, which explores female friendships and retreat from the world to a convent in New South Wales.
The judges were pleasantly surprised to see five women on the shortlist, emphasizing that the selection was based on merit and the quality of the books. The final six were chosen from a longlist of 13 titles, selected from 156 published between October 2023 and September 2024.
The winner of the 2024 Booker Prize will join the prestigious list of past winners and receive recognition for their outstanding contribution to literature. The announcement on 12 November will reveal which author will take home the coveted prize and make their mark in literary history.
