The 2023 Longlist for the Booker Prize – one of the world’s most influential prizes for fiction has been announced today, 1st August 2023.

The 13 books longlisted explore universal and topical themes: from deeply moving personal dramas to tragi-comic family sagas; from the effects of climate change to the oppression of minorities; from scientific breakthroughs to competitive sport. The list includes:

• 10 writers longlisted for the first time, including four debut novelists (Jonathan Escoffery, Siân Hughes, Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow and Chetna Maroo)

• Three writers with seven previous nominations between them

• Writers from seven countries across four continents

• Four Irish writers, making up a third of the longlist for the first time

The 2023 Longlist is:

A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ ̀

Set in contemporary Nigeria, this character-driven dazzler explores power, political corruption, social divisions and the human heart with breath-taking insight, and we loved it here at LoveReading.

Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry 

Aching with love, grief and the weight of secrets, this haunting novel sees a retired policeman pulled into the tumultuous torrents of his tragic past when an old case rears its head, commented our reviewer Joanne Owen.

Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein 

The judges commented that "it's an absurdist, darkly funny novel about the rise of xenophobia, as seen through the eyes of a stranger in an unnamed town – or is it?"

If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery 

Lauded by the panel for its clarity, variety and fizzing prose, Jamaican husband and wife Topper and Santa flee from the troubles of their 1970s Caribbean home to make a new life in Miami with their sons Delano and Trelawney. 

How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney 

The interweaving stories of Jamie, a teenage boy trying to make sense of the world, and Tess, a teacher at his school, make up this humorous and insightful novel about family and the need for connection.

This Other Eden by Paul Harding 

This heartbreakingly beautiful paean to Apple Island, off the coast of Maine, transports us to the unique tiny community scrabbling a living there. The arrival of a well-intentioned though racist preacher brings with it the unwelcome attention of 19th century America, with inevitably disastrous results.

Pearl by Siân Hughes

The judges commented that this "exceptional debut novel, is both a mystery story and a meditation on grief, abandonment and consolation, evoking the profundities of the haunting medieval poem, Pearl."

All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow 

Written from the perspective of an autistic mother, All the Little Bird-Hearts is a poetic debut which masterfully intertwines themes of familial love, friendship, class, prejudice and trauma with psychological acuity and wit.

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch 

The judges commented that this "harrowing and dystopian Prophet Song vividly renders a mother’s determination to protect her family as Ireland’s liberal democracy slides inexorably and terrifyingly into totalitarianism. A remarkable accomplishment."

In Ascension by Martin MacInnes 

In this strange and wonderful world, every outward journey – whether to space or the depths of the ocean – is an inward one, as Leigh seeks to move beyond her troubled childhood. In Ascension is a Solaris for the climate-change age.

Western Lane by Chetna Maroo 

"Skilfully deploying the sport of squash as both context and metaphor, Western Lane is a deeply evocative debut about a family grappling with grief, conveyed through crystalline language which reverberates like the sound ‘of a ball hit clean and hard...with a close echo', the judges gushed.

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray 

The judges commented that "this family drama, told from multiple perspectives, is at once hilarious and heartbreaking, personal and epic. It’s an addictive read."

The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng

The judges: "Drawing on the life and writing of Somerset Maugham, The House of Doors is a magisterial and haunting tale of forbidden love and loss in the shadow of revolution and empire. This is historical fiction at its finest."

The longlist of 13 books – the ‘Booker Dozen’ – has been chosen by the 2023 judging panel, which is chaired by twice-shortlisted novelist Esi Edugyan. She is joined by actor, writer and director Adjoa Andoh; poet, lecturer, editor and critic Mary Jean Chan; author and professor James Shapiro; and actor and writer Robert Webb.

Their selection was made from 163 books published between 1st October 2022 and 30th September 2023, and submitted to the prize by publishers. The Booker Prize is open to works of long-form fiction by writers of any nationality, written in English and published in the UK or Ireland.

Esi Edugyan, Chair of the 2023 Judges, commented: "We read 163 novels across seven months, and in that time whole worlds opened to us. We were transported to early 20th century Maine and Penang, to the vibrant streets of Lagos and the squash courts of London, to the blackest depths of the Atlantic, and into a dystopic Ireland where the terrifying loss of rights comes as a hard warning.

"The list is defined by its freshness – by the irreverence of new voices, by the iconoclasm of established ones. All 13 novels cast new light on what it means to exist in our time, and they do so in original and thrilling ways. Their range is vast, both in subject and form: they shocked us, made us laugh, filled us with anguish, but above all they stayed with us. This is a list to excite, challenge, delight, a list to bring wonder. The novels are small revolutions, each seeking to energise and awaken the language. Together – whether historical or contemporary – they offer startling portraits of the current."

The Shortlist and Winner Announcements

The shortlist of six books will be announced on 21st September at an evening event at the newly re-opened National Portrait Gallery in London. It will be livestreamed across all the Booker Prizes’ social platforms. The shortlisted authors each receive £2,500 and a specially bound edition of their book.

On 7th October the new Booker Prize Podcast co-host James Walton will be at the Cheltenham Literary Festival to introduce readers to the shortlisted authors and books, and to present the world premiere of this year’s shortlist films.

The shortlisted authors will also take part in the annual readings at the Southbank Centre in London on 23rd November. Tickets will be on sale from the Southbank Centre's website later this year.

The 2023 winner will be announced on 26th November at an award ceremony held at Old Billingsgate. The winner receives £50,000 and a trophy designed by the late Jan Pieńkowski. In a recent public vote, the trophy was named ‘Iris’ in honour of the 1978 Booker winner Iris Murdoch.

They can also expect international recognition and a dramatic increase in global book sales. The 2022 Booker Prize was won by Shehan Karunatilaka with The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida.

According to its publisher Sort of Books, there had been a sprinkling of pre-publication media interest, which increased threefold with its publication four days after its Booker Prize longlisting and tripled again on shortlisting. With the announcement that it was the Booker Prize winner, sales soared to over 100,000 across all formats. It has now been translated into 19 languages with another 10 in process. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida has massively outsold – by 2,000% – Karunatilaka’s previously acclaimed and prizewinning novel, Chinaman.

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