2013 Booker Prize Shortlist is “Most Diverse in Recent Memory”

Electric Lit is just $4,000 away from our year-end fundraising goal of $35,000! We need to hit this target to get us through the rest of 2025, and balance the budget for 2026. Please give today! DONATE NOW.

The shortlist for the 2013 Man Booker Prize shortlist was announced this morning. The six authors listed below represent five different countries, range in age from 28 to 67, and have written as many as 15 books or as few as two.

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo (Chatto & Windus)
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (Granta)
The Harvest by Jim Crace (Picador)
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (Bloomsbury)
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (Canongate)
The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín (Penguin)

The listing appeared in a post at the Man Booker website, which highlights the diversity of the list and what it means for the prize and for the contemporary literary world.

“And what does the list say about the writers? It is clear that the perennial complaint that fiction is too safe and unadventurous is a ridiculous one; it shows that the novel remains a multi-faceted thing; that writing and inspiration knows no geographical borders; that diaspora tales are a powerful strand in imaginative thinking; and that human voices, in all their diversity, drive fiction.”

Authors on the shortlist receive a £2,500 prize and a designer bound copy of their book.

Image via the Man Booker website.

More Like This

Books About Palestine, Colonialism, Race, and Immigration Swept the 75th National Book Awards

The winners advocated for Taiwanese independence, an end to the genocide in Gaza, and raised concerns about AI and the Trump administration

Nov 21 - Vivienne Germain

Meet the Transgender Fiction Finalists for the 36th Annual Lambda Literary Awards

We talked to the authors about their books, their path to becoming a writer, and their trans literary influences

Jun 5 - Electric Literature

Predicting the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

We're betting on these contenders for this year's most coveted literary award in America

Apr 19 - Bradley Sides
Thank You!