We are officially 10 days away from the announcement of the Man Booker Prize Winner 2018!
At the end of September, the shortlist of six books for the prize was announced. And while the longlist saw potentially for the prize to expand its sights on to less conventional novels in the history of the prize, including the first ever graphic novel to be longlisted and the possibility for the first crime novel to be the prize winner, the shortlist seems to demonstrate the temporality of that diversity.
The prize has long been considered one of the most reputable recognitions a writer can get for their work. But, time and time again, it seems to suggest that “good writing” is limited to certain parameters. Some of those parameters have been shown to exclude more contemporary forms of writing. Moreover, the shortlist emphasises a stark gap between what readers have been buying and what the judges have deemed worthy of the prize. It leaves me questioning whether the prize has lost any connection to the public that it may have once had?
Among the bestsellers on the longlist was Michael Ondaatje’s Warlight, Belinda Bauer’s Snap, Sally Rooney’s Normal People and Nick Drnaso’s Sabrina (the aforementioned token graphic novel), none of which survived the culling to the next stage of the prize.
Those that did make it to the next round are as follows:
- Milkman by Anna Burns
- Washington Black by Anna Burns
- Everything Under by Daisy Johnson
- The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
- The Overstory by Richard Powers
- The Long Take by Robin Robertson
While all of the authors are from the UK or North America, seemingly providing more evidence of the limited category of consideration for the prize, four of the six shortlisted novelists this year are women of incredible ability, and the list features the youngest writer to be shortlisted (Johnson). So maybe in some ways, the list is a traditional selection, but in others, the literary world could be considered to slowly expanding. Maybe too slowly for the modern readership, but some change seems on it’s way.
The reveal of the winner on October 16th will tell us more. Until then, I’m going to get back to my copy of Milkman and my cup of tea. Stay tuned for my thoughts on the winner!
~S~
