Here Is the 2016 Man Booker Prize Longlist

The “Man Booker Dozen” includes Ottessa Moshfegh and J.M. Coetzee, among others

This year’s Man Booker Prize Longlist is indeed, as the 2016 chair of judges Amanda Foreman states, “one to be relished.” The novels, novelists, and even the presses/publishers behind the works are wholly varied. J.M. Coetzee, what one can consider a veteran in this competition as the only double-winner, is included alongside four debut novelists: Ottessa Moshfegh (Eileen), Wyl Wenmuir (The Many), Virginia Reeves (Work Like Any Other), and David Means (Hystopia). There are five books from independent presses, two from Simon & Schuster’s Scribner UK imprint, and six from imprints under the auspices of Penguin Random House. Of the independent presses, one may be a bit more widely familiar: Oneworld gained huge notoriety last year as the publisher of Marlon James’s 2015 Man Booker Prize-Winning powerhouse A Brief History of Seven Killings.

In any event, it is refreshing to see such multi-layered diversity in this year’s nominations. Remember, it was not so long ago that the competition was notably more limited. Without further ado:

Author (nationality) — Title (imprint)

Paul Beatty (US) — The Sellout (Oneworld)

J.M. Coetzee (South African-Australian) — The Schooldays of Jesus (Harvill Secker)

A.L. Kennedy (UK) — Serious Sweet (Jonathan Cape)

Deborah Levy (UK) — Hot Milk (Hamish Hamilton)

Graeme Macrae Burnet (UK) — His Bloody Project (Contraband)

Ian McGuire (UK) — The North Water (Scribner UK)

David Means (US) — Hystopia (Faber & Faber)

The Junction

Wyl Menmuir (UK) –The Many (Salt)

Ottessa Moshfegh (US) — Eileen (Jonathan Cape)

McGlue (Excerpt)

Virginia Reeves (US) — Work Like Any Other (Scribner UK)

Elizabeth Strout (US) — My Name Is Lucy Barton (Viking)

David Szalay (Canada-UK) — All That Man Is (Jonathan Cape)

Madeleine Thien (Canada) — Do Not Say We Have Nothing (Granta Books)