The 2023 International Booker Prize

The longlist, the shortlist, and the winner!

Since 2005, the prestigious International Booker Prize has honored the finest works of translated fiction from around the globe. The award, which was presented on May 23 in London, aims to encourage more reading of outstanding fiction from all over the world and has had a significant impact. The vital work of the translators is also celebrated with the £50,000 prize money divided equally between the author and translator. Each shortlisted author and translator also receives £2,500. Read on to learn about the thirteen nominated books, the shortlisted titles, and the winner.

The Longlist:

Is Mother Dead by Vigdis Hjorth, translated by Charlotte Barslund

Recently widowed, Johanna is a middle-aged artist who returns to Oslo after a long absence. There she finds herself reckoning with unresolved feelings around the obsessive, toxic relationship she shares with her estranged mother. 

While We Were Dreaming by Clemens Meyer, translated by Katy Derbyshire

Rico, Mark, Paul and Daniel were 13 when the Berlin Wall fell in autumn 1989. Growing up in Leipzig during reunification, they roam the streets, partying, rioting, running away from their fears, and dreaming of a better life.

Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv by Andrey Kurkov, translated by Reuben Woolley

Strange things are afoot in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine. Seagulls are circling and the air smells salty, despite being a long way from the sea. This entertaining romp is shot through with black humor and vodka-fueled magic realism.

Ninth Building by Zou Jingzhi, translated by Jeremy Tiang

This fascinating collection of vignettes draws from the author's experience growing up during the cultural revolution, first as a boy in Beijing and then as a teenager exiled to the countryside. 

A System So Magnificent It Is Blinding by Amanda Svensson, translated by Nichola Smalley

Are we free to create our own destinies or are we just part of a system beyond our control? This is the question at the center of this joyful family saga about free will, forgiveness, and how we are all interconnected.

Pyre by Perumal Murugan, translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan

After their hasty marriage, young lovers Saroja and Kumaresan return to Kumaresan's family village hoping to build a happy life together. But they harbor a dangerous secret: Saroja is from a different caste than Kumaresan.

The Birthday Party by Laurent Mauvignier, translated by Daniel Levin Becker

As Patrice plans a surprise for his wife's fortieth birthday, inexplicable events start to disrupt the quiet existence of their tiny Hamlet. A real-time study in crippling self-consciousness, the fragility of normalcy, and the reality of violence.

The Shortlist:

Whale by Cheon Myeong-Kwan, translated by Chi-Young Kim

For fans of One Hundred Years of Solitude, this sweeping multigenerational tale blends fable, farce, and fantasy. Set in a remote village in South Korea, the adventure-satire weaves together the lives of many linked characters. 

Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel, translated by Rosalind Harvey

Alina and Laura are independent and career-driven women in their mid-thirties. When Alina makes the decision to have a baby on her own, the two friends are forced to reckon with the complexity of their feelings around motherhood.

The Gospel According to the New World by Maryse Condé, translated by Richard Philcox

Pascal is strikingly beautiful, brown in complexion, with gray-green eyes like the sea. And it's rumored that he's the child of God. As he grows, Pascal embarks on a quest to understand his purpose. Can he change the fate of humanity?

Standing Heavy by GauZ', translated by Frank Wynne

Fast-paced and funny, poignant and sharply satirical, this novel is a searingly witty deconstruction of colonial legacies and capitalist consumption, as told through the eyes of three African security guards in Paris.

Boulder by Eva Baltasar, translated by Julia Sanches

Samsa and Boulder fall in love while working aboard a merchant ship. Then Samsa decides to have a child. Finding herself dragged along on a journey that feels thankless and alien, Boulder must choose between freedom and love. 

The winner!

Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov, translated by Angela Rodel

In a clinic for sufferers of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, this novel's unnamed narrator collects items from the past as part of the inspired treatment of recreating patients' fading memories. Chair of the judges, Leïla Slimani, called it "a brilliant novel, full of irony and melancholy."

Expand your literary horizons with these celebrated titles from around the globe!

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Read more by Ashly Moore Sheldon