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

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.