SCOTTISH author Martin MacInnes has been named on the Booker Prize longlist for 2023.
Launched in 1969, the award is the world’s most influential prize for a single work of fiction with this year’s list made up of 13 authors and titles, featuring four debut authors.
MacInnes, who was born in Inverness in 1983 but now lives in Edinburgh, has been nominated on the list for his book In Ascension.
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It’s the first time he’s been featured on the longlist for the Booker Prize, having written two other novels in his career thus far.
The full list is as follows:
- Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ ̀– A Spell of Good Things (Canongate)
- Sebastian Barry – Old God’s Time (Faber & Faber)
- Sarah Bernstein – Study for Obedience (Granta Books)
- Jonathan Escoffery – If I Survive You (4th Estate)
- Elaine Feeney - How to Build a Boat (Harvill Secker)
- Paul Harding - This Other Eden (Hutchinson Heinemann)
- Siân Hughes – Pearl (The Indigo Press)
- Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow – All the Little Bird-Hearts (Tinder Press)
- Paul Lynch – Prophet Song (Oneworld)
- Martin MacInnes – In Ascension (Atlantic Books)
- Chetna Maroo – Western Lane (Picador)
- Paul Murray – The Bee Sting (Hamish Hamilton)
- Tan Twan Eng – The House of Doors (Canongate)
The longlist was selected by the 2023 judging panel, which is chaired by twice-shortlisted novelist Esi Edugyan. She said: “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.
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“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.”
In 2020, Scottish author Douglas Stuart (below) picked up the Booker Prize for his novel Shuggie Bain.
From the 13 novels longlisted, a shortlist of six will be chosen and announced on September 21 who each receive £2500 and a specially bound edition of their book.
The eventual winner will be announced on November 26 at an award ceremony held at London’s Old Billingsgate.
The winner receives £50,000 and a trophy designed by the late Jan Pienkowski.
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