What is the International Booker Prize?
The International Booker Prize is awarded annually for a single fiction book from around the world, translated into English and published in the UK and Ireland.
The Booker Prizes recognise the finest work in fiction, whether that work was originally written in English (the Booker Prize) or translated into English (the International Booker Prize). This ensures that Booker honours and celebrates fiction on a truly global basis.
Who won the 2023 International Booker Prize?
Time Shelter, written by Georgi Gospodinov and translated by Angela Rodel, has won the International Booker Prize 2023, making it the first novel originally published in Bulgarian to win.
Georgi Gospodinov, author of Time Shelter
The winner was announced last night, May 24, at a ceremony at Sky Garden in London, with the £50,000 prize money split equally between the translator and the author.
Time Shelter is about a ‘clinic for the past’ that offers a promising treatment for Alzheimer’s sufferers.
Each floor reproduces a whole decade in minute detail, transporting patients back in time.
Which books made the shortlist?
The shortlist for the International Booker Prize 2023 was announced on Tuesday April 18th, comprising of six books.
Still Born – Written by Guadalupe Nettel and translated by Rosalind Harvey
Standing Heavy – Written by GauZ’ and translated by Frank Wynne
Time Shelter – Written by Georgi Gospodinov and translated by Angela Rodel
The Gospel According to the New World – Written by Maryse Condé and translated by Richard Philcox
Whale – Written by Cheon Myeong-kwan and translated by Chi-Young Kim
Boulder – Written by Eva Baltasar and translated by Julia Sanches
Who won last year’s International Booker Prize?
The 2022 International Booker Prize was won by Tomb of Sand, written by Geetanjali Shree and translated by Daisy Rockwell, who together split the £50,000 prize.
The book was first published in Hindi in 2018 and is the first book originally written in an Indian language to be awarded the prize.
The story follows Ma, and 80-year-old women from India.
After the death of her husband, Ma seeks a new lease of life.
The book tackles many issues left by the British empire, including the oppression of Hijra people (a distinct group of unisex of transgender people from the Indian sub content), one of whom Ma befriends, much to her daughter’s surprise.
Author Geetanjali Shree (Right) and translator Daisy Rockwell (Left)
The history of the International Booker Prize
The International Booker Prize was introduced in 2005 as the Man Booker International Prize and was awarded to a body of work every other year. Initially, there was no rule that the work should be written in a language other than English. Early winners of the prize therefore include writers like Alice Munro, Lydia Davis and Philip Roth, as well as Ismali Kadare and Laszlo Krasznahorkai.
Sophie Olejnik
sophie.blotmag@gmail.com
Sophie is a trainee journalist at The University of Sheffield who specialises in feature writing. She has a keen passion for books and would love to work in the publishing industry in the future. She’s particularly passionate about how our ever-changing planet is represented in the books we read.
Favourite genres: Thrillers and Contemporary Fiction.