International Booker – publisher predictions #2

There might be 3 major publishers that take up most of the longlist spots, but the International Booker would be nothing without the never-heard-of-awesome-translated-fic that shows up on announcement day.

And other stories

The past 3 years, And other stories have had 1 book on the longlist each year. Eligible books:

• Veridgris by Michele Mari, translated from Italian by Brian Robert Moore.
• The hunger of women by Marosia Castaldi, translated from Italian by Jamie Richards.
• Star 111 by Lutz Seiler, translated from German by Tess Lewis.
• You, bleeding childhood by Michele Mari, translated from Italian by Brian Robert Moore.
• Shalash, the Iraqi by Salash, translated from Arabic by Luke Leafgren.

Out of these I would pick Shalash, the Iraqi as my longlister. Its origin as scattered blog posts, the importance of storytelling in times of war, would make it an important and unfortunately relevant longlister.

Charco press

Since 2018 Charco Press has had 1 book on the longlist every other year. If the pattern continues then there will be 1 Charco press on this year’s longlist.

• Fresh dirt from the grave by Giovanna Rivero, translated by Juana Adcock.
• A little luck by Claudia Piñeiro, translated by Frances Riddle.
• Confession by Martín Kohan, translated by Daniel Hahn.
• The delivery by Margarita García Robayo, translated by Megan McDowell.
• Not a river by Selva Almada, translated by Annie McDermott.
• The dark side of skin by Jeferson Tenório, translated by Bruna Dantas Lobato.

I love the darker vibes of Fresh dirt from the grave so this would be my pick for the longlist.

Honford star

The past 2 years Honford star has had 1 book on the longlist.

• Your Utopia by Bora Chung, translated from Korean by Anton Hur.
• Cannibals by Shinya Tanaka, translated from Japanese by Kalau Almony.
• Finger bone by Hiroki Takahashi, translated from Japanese by Takami Nieda.
• Launch something by Bae Myung-hoon, translated from Korean by Stella Kim.

I loved Cursed Bunny and it is a big part in how I got attached to International Booker, in fact that entire year the longlist was fantastic. So of course I want to see Bora Chung make it onto the longlist!

Lolli editions

Lolli editions missed out on last year’s longlist but had 1 book in 2022 and 2021.

• Tityrus by Duncan Wiese, translated from Danish by Max Minden Ribeiro and Sam Riviere.
• Eunuch by Kristina Carlson, translated from Finnish by Mikko Alapuro.
• My work by Olga Ravn, translated from Danish by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell.
• Sublunar by Harald Voetmann, translated from Danish by Johanne Sorgenfri Ottosen.

I’m going with the popular pick that everyone else is making – My work by Olga Ravn!

Picador Pan Macmillan

Has the same track record as Lolli editions. Their website is an equal to Penguin’s so I can’t be bothered to dig through for potentially eligible books.

Pushkin press

Looking at the past 4 years, the average for Pushkin press is 1 book per year. They had zero books in 2022 but made up for it with 2 books in 2021.

• Harlequin Butterfly by Toh EnJoe, translated by David Boyd.
• 19 claws and black bird by Agustina Bazterrica, translated by Sarah Moses.
• Glorious people by Sasha Salzmann, translated by Imogen Taylor.
• Ædnan by Linnea Axelsson, translated by Saskia Vogel.
• The wizard of the Kremlin by Giuliano da Empoli, translated by Willard Wood.

I probably will not surprise anyone by saying I want Ædnan and 19 claws and black bird to make it to the longlist. Leaving out Ædnan will be a devastating blow to my trust in International Booker. This is the one prediction I had to not think about as soon as I saw that it was eligible.

Tilted Axis press

Came out of nowhere with 3 longlisted books in 2022 and surprised many by having zero longlisters in 2023. Is it time for another appearance?

• The end of August by Yu Miri, translated from Japanese by Morgan Giles
• A book, untitled by Shushan Avagyan, translated from Armenian by Deanna Cachoian-Schanz
• DD’s umbrella by Hwang Jungeun, translated from Korean by E. Yaewon
• To hell with poets by Baqytgul Sarmekova, translated from Kazakh by Mirgul Kali

I have to go with one of the few eligible books I own – The end of August.

World editions

Increased their appearance by having 1 longlisted book in 2023 and 2021.

• Fowl eulogies by Lucie Rico, translated from French by Daria Chernysheva
• The drinker of horizons by Mia Couto, translated from Portugese by David Brookshaw
• Selamlik by Khaled Alesmael, translated from Arabic by Leri Price

I’m picking The drinker of horizons, even though it appears to be part of a series.

Disclaimer

Same as the last prediction post.

Do not trust me.

International Booker – publisher predictions #1

Many have joked about a certain blue-covered publisher making frequent appearances on the International Booker longlist, which inspired me to take a deeper look at publisher’s track records. Countrary to popular belief, there are actually 3 publishers likely to make an appearance on each year’s longlist.

Fitzcarraldo Editions

Their blue covers appear on the longlist on all years, except in 2016. You can basically count on there being 1 book from them, or more likely 2.

Eligible books for this year’s longlist are:

• Mild vertigo by Mieko Kanai, translated from Japanese by Polly Barton.
• The annual banquet of the gravedigger’s guild by Mathias Enard, translated from French by Frank Wynne. Mathias Enard was longlisted in 2017. The translator is more frequent on the International Booker scene with 3 past longlistings.
• A shining by Jon Fosse, translated from Norwegian by Damion Searls. At 56 or 48 pages depending on edition it might be too short to meet the criteria of “long-form fiction”. But, I did my homework and A cup of rage by Raduan Nassar with its 64 pages was longlisted in 2016. Jon Fosse has been longlisted twice, both times with Damion Searls as translator, and won the Nobel prize in 2023.
• The singularity by Balsam Karam, translated from Swedish by Saskia Vogel.
• The book of all lovers by Agustín Fernández Mallo, translated from Spanish by Thomas Bunstead.

From this list I would be happy to see Mild Vertigo, and The singularity, on the longlist. I would say The annual banquet of the gravedigger’s guild and The book of all lovers have that fuzzy type of synopsis that International Booker loves, but that makes my focus wander.

Hachette

Through its imprints MacLehose Press and Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Hachette is another publisher with a solid record that has an average of over 1 book per longlist. It started out strong with 2 books on the longlist the first couple of years but then fell into a slump, missing the longlist or getting 1 book in there. Hachette is however back in force after last year’s 3 books (Time shelter, Standing heavy, and Jimi Hendrix live in Lviv). Out of the two imprints MacLehose Press is the most frequent, with Weidenfeld & Nicolson making its first appearance last year.

Rudely I’m excluding all genre fiction which means crime fiction (Oliver Bottini, Åsa Larsson, and Karin Smirnoff), and fantasy (Jin Yong). Although these are some of my favourite genres so I wouldn’t mind being proven wrong. Eligible books:

• Hunter in Huskvarna by Sara Stridsberg, translated from Swedish by Deborah Bragan-Turner. Both author and translator have been longlisted together in the past for The faculty of dreams.
• Nothing belongs to you by Natacha Appanah, translated from French by Jeffrey Zuckerman.
• The movieteller by Hernan Rivera Letelier, translated from Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa. The fact that it isn’t on the list of eligible books on Goodreads makes me wonder if I’m missing something. Maybe it is considered too “commercial”? The translator has one previous longlisting.
• Vengeance is mine by Marie NDiaye, translated from French by Jordan Stump. This would be the second longlisting for the pair, they were previously longlisted for Ladivine.
• Canoes by Maylis de Kerangal, translated from French by Jessica Moore. The duo has been longlisted once before for Mend the living in 2016.
• The silver bone by Andrey Kurkov, translated from Russian by Boris Dralyuk. Kurkov was longlisted last year for Jimi Hendrix live in Lviv.
• Your absence is darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson, translated from Icelandic by Philip Roughton. The duo were longlisted in 2017 for Fish have no feet.
• Before the queen falls asleep by Huzama Habayeb, translated from Arabic by Kay Heikkinen.
• And the stones cry out by Clara Dupont-Monod, translated from French by Ben Faccini
• The physics of sorrow by Georgi Gospodinov, translated from Bulgarian by Angela Rodel. Last year’s winning author and translator with Time shelter.

Out of this very long list I would want to see Before the queen falls asleep, Vengeance is mine, and The stones cry out make it.

Penguin

The first couple of years this was the prize’s Fitzcarraldo, having a record of 5 longlisted books in 2017. Their track record includes 5 imprints.

Penguin definitely wins the prize this year for having websites so annoying I couldn’t find a single eligible book.

Disclaimer

This is based on my skills when using an online Excelish sheet and the limited information available about some imprints. If you use this post to make your predictions and they are off, causing you to lose standing in the bookish community, I can not be held responsible.

Booker 2023 prediction post

This is my prediction list and it is very much a “oh this sounds interesting and I would read this first if I was a judge” list rather than an attempt to predict what the judges will select for longlist.

Just like International Booker has mostly western Europe on their list, Booker will have mostly UK, Ireland or USA on theirs. So my list below will definitley not happen. But I hope a few will make it, I feel especially strongly about Hungry Ghosts and The Covenant Of Water.

🇹🇹 Hungry ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein
🇺🇸 Chain-gang All-stars by Nana Kwame Adeji-Brenyah
🇨🇦 A history of burning by Janika Oza
🇧🇦 🇺🇸 The world and all that it holds by Aleksandar Hemon
🇲🇾 The house of doors by Tan Twan Eng
🇳🇪 A spell of good things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
🇺🇸 Biography of X by Catherine Lacey
🇮🇳 One small voice by Santanu Bhattacharya
🇮🇳 🇪🇹 🇺🇸 The covenant of water by Abraham Verghese
🇦🇺 The sun walks down by Fiona McFarlane
🇬🇧 Losing the plot by Derek Uwusu
🇵🇰 🇺🇸 When we were sisters by Fatimah Asghar
🇺🇸 🇮🇳 The East Indian by Brinda Charry
🇵🇰 The idle stance of the tippler pigeon by Safinah Danish Elahi

Although I’m enjoing the Booker enthusiasm I’m trying to not get swept away. Last year I read Small Things Like These, Booth and Trust. They were good but nothing spectacular for me.

I bought After Sappho, The Seven Moons Of Maali Almeida, Nightcrawling and Glory – books I believe I would like more. But as buying and reading are two separate hobbies of mine, these remain unread.

…

Emilie, seriously, do not buy more Booker books.

…

But these 4 do look pretty tempting. What if I read them in July and find that I really like them. Maybe I should only read the books that are my type of books. And then buy the rest if I finish them all.

Yes. We have entered full bargaining with oneself about book budget stage.

I do not get excited by yet another pretty reel from a literary award – but seeing a fellow reader contemplate predictions, buying, which books you love the most – it gets me every time.

Have you read any of these? Which is your favourite to make the longlist?

PS. And yes, there are 14 books on my list. I can do whatever I want.

My International Booker shortlist

I’m of the opinion that predictions are just for fun – you use whatever method you like making a prediction. Guess wildly, read all longlisters, pick the covers you like – I enjoy the posts regardless 🥰

My shortlist is what I would pick if I was the judge (and hadn’t read all the books 🤫 don’t tell on me please). So I have to both enjoy the books and see that sparkle of a winner whatever that means, it is all nonsense 😂

I have read Is mother dead by Vigdis Hjorth and A system so magnificent it is blinding by Amanda Svensson. Out of those two Hjorth makes my shortlist. I absolutely enjoyed Svensson’s book though.

I’m in the midst of reading Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov and The Birthday Party by Laurent Mauvignier. I can see both books growing on me but I will not be selecting them for my shortlist.

Inspired by others I’ve decided to sample the first couple of pages of the remaining books. Ninth Building and Jimi Hendrix live in Lviv are the only ones I don’t have access to so I read the excerpts available on the prize website. A suggestion I highly recommend if you want to get a feel for the books before hunting them down!

Besides Hjorth I’m adding Nettel my favourite even before the longlist was announced and Condé an all-time favourite author. Baltasar has been intriguing me since before the announcement and the first couple of pages settled it – I want it on the shortlist. Both Kurkov and GauZ’ held promise and the sample reading earned them a spot on the shortlist.

Here is my shortlist: 

Is mother dead by Vigdis Hjorth 🇳🇴 

Still born by Guadalupe Nettel 🇲🇽 

The gospel according to the new world by Maryse Condé 🇬🇵 

Jimi Hendrix live in Lviv by Andrey Kurkov 🇺🇦

Boulder by Eva Baltasar 🇪🇸 

Standing Heavy by GauZ’ Côte D’Ivoire 🇨🇮

Which books do you hope to see on the shortlist? What am I wrong or right about?

International Booker 2023 prediction #1

What better way to launch my first bookish blog than talking about my favourite literary award?

Announcing a book award is your favourite is of course scary as I may very well jinx it. The judges change each year and just because I loved the 2022 longlist does not mean this year’s longlist will be my thing. But I like to live dangerously (absolutely not true!).

I want more hype around this prize so I’m planning to make several prediction posts pre-announcement of the longlist on March 14th. But life is a factor so who knows how many posts I get out.

This list is made without thinking too much about it – it is simply 13 translated books that I would want to read and happily buy if they make it to the longlist.

My predictions

1. Our share of night by Mariana Enriquez, translated by Megan McDowell, published by Granta Books.
2. Still born by Guadalupe Nettel, translated by Rosalind Harvey, published by Fitzcarraldo Editions.
3. All your children, scattered by Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, translated by Alison Anderson, published by Europa Editions.
4. Mother’s don’t by Katixa Agirre, translated by Kristin Addis, published by 3TimesRebel.
5. Cocoon by Zhang Yueran, translated by Jeremy Tiang, published by World Editions.
6. 1000 coils of fear by Olivia Wenzel, translated by Priscilla Layne, published by Dialogue Books.
7. The last one by Fatima Daas, translated by Lara Vergnaud, published by Other Press.
8. The queens of Sarmiento Park by Camila Sosa Villada, translated by Kit Maude, published by Little Brown, UK.
9. Twilight of torment: Melancholy by Léonora Miano, translated by Gila Walker, published by Seagull Books.
10. Solo dance by Kotomi Li, translated by Arthur Reiji Morris, published by World Editions.
11. Does snow turn a person white inside? by Max Lobe, translated by Ros Schwartz, published by Hope Road.
12. Ghost town by Kevin Chen, translated by Darryl Sterk, published by Europa Editions.
13. Discretion by Faïza Guène, translated by Sarah Ardizzone, published by Saqi Books.

Lastly, even though I do not think it is “literary” enough, I want to recommend that you read Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius. It is an important book highlighting Sweden’s colonialism and oppression of the indigenous Sámi.