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Journalism of Courage
Indian-origin writer Chetna Maroo’s Western Lane, a story about a young girl’s brutal training regime on the squash court, has made it to the Booker Prize 2023 longlist.
She is one of the four debut novelists in the Booker Prize 2023 longlist announced on Monday.
The other debuts in the list of 13 include Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow’s All the Little Bird-Hearts, about a mother-daughter relationship upended by new neighbours; Siân Hughes’s Pearl, the story of a girl illustrating a medieval poem in hopes of solace; and Jonathan Escoffery’s If I Survive You, which takes one through the turbulence in the life of a Jamaican family fleeing political violence to America.
The longlist also features three Booker veterans: Tan Twan Eng’s The House of Doors, about a Malaysian love triangle entangled in high society and murder; Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting, about a family facing crisis and comedy; and Sebastian Barry’s Old God’s Time, about a police officer investigating a cold case.
Other books on the longlist include Martin MacInnes’s In Ascension, about a journey of discovery across the Atlantic Ocean, and Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song, about a scientist surviving in politically crumbling Ireland.
It also includes Paul Harding’s This Other Eden, about racism off the coast of the United States, and Elaine Feeney’s How to Build a Boat, about a boy looking to reunite with his dead mother.
Also in the list: Sarah Bernstein’s Study for Obedience, a magic-realist story of a new woman in town who arrives to take care of her lovelorn brother, and Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀’s A Spell of Good Things, the story of two Nigerian families tackling poverty, violence and childhood dreams.
The longlist includes representation from seven countries (Malaysia, Nigeria, Jamaica, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Ireland) across four continents.
According to the Booker website, the list explores “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 shortlist will be announced on September 21 and those in it will win £2,500. The winner, who will be announced on November 26, will win £50,000.
This year’s jury is chaired by Esi Edugyan, who said in a statement, “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.”
Other members of the jury include celebrated writers and critics like Adjoa Andoh, Mary Jean Chan, James Shapiro, Mary Jean Chan, and Robert Webb.
Last year, Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka won the Prize for The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, a story about a dead journalist who investigates his own death in the afterlife.
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