With four writers out of it’s six authors the shortlisted this years Booker Prize, announced on Tuesday, has to the be most diverse line-up since the prize’ began. Diane Cook, Avni Doshi, Douglas Stuart and Brandon Taylor are the four debut novelist who are up against acclaimed Zimbabwean writer Tsitsi Dangarembga, and the Ethiopian-American Maaza Mengiste for the £50,000 award. This year no British writers were selected for the shortlist.
The 2020 shortlist is:
- The New Wilderness by Diane Cook (Oneworld Publications)
- This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga (Faber & Faber)
- Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi (Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House)
- The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste (Canongate Books)
- Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart (Picador, Pan Macmillan)
- Real Life by Brandon Taylor (Originals, Daunt Books Publishing)