Booker Prize 2023: Marlon James and Douglas Stuart Among Semifinalists

Notable Booker Prize winners Marlon James and Douglas Stuart are contenders again for the acclaimed fiction accolade. They join a diverse lineup featuring themes of Dublin gang life, dystopian science fiction, and New England characters by Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout.

Judges reviewed 163 novels to compile the list of 13 semifinalists for the £50,000 ($66,000) Booker Prize. Historian Mary Beard, who leads the judging panel, described the lineup as literary “dynamite.”

Diverse Author Contributions

The list includes James’s work “The Disappearers,” depicting the struggles of gay men in 1980s Jamaica, and Stuart’s “John of John,” exploring father-son dynamics on a Scottish island. Strout offers “The Things We Never Say,” a heartfelt portrayal of small-town life.

James earned the Booker Prize in 2015 with “A Brief History of Seven Killings,” while Stuart won in 2020 for “Shuggie Bain.” Strout was a finalist in 2022 for “Oh William!” and she claimed the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2009 with “Olive Kitteridge.”

Longlist of Global Talent

The longlist features both established and emerging authors from Britain, Ireland, Jamaica, Mexico, Turkey, and the United States. Three debut authors have been recognized:

• Turkish-American Kenan Orhan with “The Renovation,” a tale of family history.
• British Rebecca Perry with “May We Feed the King,” spanning from Medieval times to the modern era.
• Ireland’s Djamel White’s “All Them Dogs,” a thriller set in Dublin’s underworld.

Djamel White, at 28, stands as the youngest writer among the contenders. Meanwhile, M. John Harrison, 81, presents “The End of Everything,” a rare science fiction entry for the Booker list.

Other nominees include “The Shadow of the Object” by Chloe Aridjis, “Black Bag” by Luke Kennard, “The Vivisectors” by Missouri Williams, “Switzy” by Emma Cline, “Helen of Nowhere” by Makenna Goodman, and “The Palm House” by Gwendoline Riley.

Embracing Different Perspectives

Beard noted that the judges, including Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker and novelist Patricia Lockwood, aimed to move beyond the notion of a typical Booker winner. They selected novels that redefine how we perceive ourselves.

“Sometimes they’re using humor, sometimes it’s pathos, sometimes there’s shock value,” Beard said. “They’re risk-takers. They are dynamite. They say ‘Come on, try seeing it a different way.’”

Established in 1969, the Booker Prize is renowned for boosting writers’ careers. It accepts submissions from any country, as long as the novel is published in the U.K. and Ireland. The 2022 winner was “Flesh” by Hungarian-British writer David Szalay.

The judges will reveal six finalists on September 22, with the winner announced on November 9 at a London ceremony.