British..Fierce competition before the announcement of the Booker Prize | Culture

The winner of the UK Booker Prize will be announced this Sunday evening in London, with this year’s competition restricted to novelists nominated for the first time in the final qualifying round for the prestigious literary prize.

None of this year’s six finalists — two Americans, two Irish, one Canadian and one Kenyan — have been shortlisted before, and only one has been on the longlist in previous editions.

The award is considered one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, bringing renown to many luminaries in the field of literature, including previous winners Margaret Atwood, Hilary Mantel and others.

The six books in this year’s final offer “terror, pleasure, joy and comfort” according to organizers, on topics including injustice, immigration and political extremism.

This year’s literary prize is open to writers of any nationality, for works of fiction written in English and published in the UK or Ireland between October 1, 2022 and September 30, 2023.

The winner will receive a £50,000 ($63,000) prize and a powerful morale boost for his literary career.

The six novels participating in the finals announced in September were selected from 13 novels selected from the 158 literary works in the preliminary selection list.

These include Irish writer Paul Murray’s novel “The Bee Sting,” a tragicomic epic that explores the role of fate in a family’s plight.

Murray was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2010.

Also in competition is Kenyan writer Chetna Maru’s poignant debut novel “The Western Line,” about grief and sisterly relationships, centered around a teenage girl Found the meaning of life through the sport of squash.

Paul Lynch’s novel The Prophet’s Song, which takes place in Dublin against the backdrop of Ireland’s move toward a brutal regime, is a favorite to win the prize, according to observers.

The five-member awards committee also selected “If I Survive,” a novel by American author Jonathan Escoffery that centers on members of a Jamaican family and their chaotic new lives in Miami.

Also in the competition is fellow American author Paul Harding, whose book This Other Eden tells the story of the Apple Island, inspired by historical events. New home.

Canada’s Sarah Bernstein was also shortlisted for her obedience research. The novel explores themes of prejudice and guilt through a dubious narrator.

While none of the participating novelists have won the prize before, some are no strangers to the prize, most notably Harding, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2010 for his first novel, “Tinker.” prize.

Marlowe and Escofferi also made the shortlist with their first novels. Five novelists have won the Booker Prize for their first novels in previous editions, the most recent of which was Douglas Stewart in 2020 for “Shuggie Payne.” Prize.

The Booker Prize was first awarded in 1969 and was won last year by a Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatiraka From his novel “The Seven Moons of Monsignor Almeida”.