The Booker Prize 2022 judges have announced their final six to include in no particular order: Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo
The Trees by Percival Everett
Treacle Walker by Alan Garner
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout
According to a statement, it’s a list that shows great geographical breadth as well as linguistic and conceptual agility.
“Together, these six novels look at history and at the lives of individuals with wit, courage and rage, allowing us to see the world through many sets of supremely perceptive eyes.
“But it’s important not to lose sight of the exceptionally strong longlist, which the judges struggled to reduce to a shortlist of six,” continues the statement.
According to Neil MacGregor, chair of the Booker Prize 2022 judges, “These six books, we believe, speak powerfully about important things. Set in different places at different times, they are all about events that in some measure happen everywhere, and concern us all. Each written in English, they demonstrate what an abundance of Englishes there are; how many distinct worlds, real and imaginary, exist in that simple-seeming space, the Anglosphere.
“In every one, the author uses language not only to tell us what happens, but to create a world which we, outsiders, can enter and inhabit — and not merely by using words from local languages or dialects. Most important, all affirm the importance and the power of finding and sharing the truth.”
The winner for this year will be announced on 17 October.
The highlights from this year’s shortlist include fabulous fables, recurring characters, real-life inspirations, second novels, international authors and indie publishers.
Glory is an energetic and exhilarating joyride from NoViolet Bulawayo and is the story of an uprising, told by a vivid chorus of animal voices that help us see our human world more clearly.
The Trees in which a violent history refuses to be buried. A striking novel, which combines an unnerving murder mystery with a powerful condemnation of racism and police violence.
Treacle Walker is the latest fiction from a remarkable and enduring talent that brilliantly illuminates an introspective young mind trying to make sense of the world around him.
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is a rip-roaring epic and a searing, mordantly funny satire set amid the murderous mayhem of a Sri Lanka beset by civil war.
Small Things Like These, a tender tale of hope and quiet heroism is both a celebration of compassion and a stern rebuke of the sins committed in the name of religion.
Oh William! in which bestselling author Elizabeth Strout returns to her beloved heroine Lucy Barton in a luminous novel about love, loss, and the family secrets that can erupt and bewilder us at any time.
