Booker Prize Shortlist

The Booker Prize shortlist this year features an array of first time authors—four out of the six titles are debuts. In a shocking twist, Hilary Mantel, who many thought would win her third Booker for the final book in her Cromwell trilogy, has been eliminated as have Anne Tyler and Colum McCann. The final six titles, narrowed down from a field of 162, represent a wide range of subjects—historical, contemporary and speculative including climate change, dementia and grad school life. Settings range from 1930s Ethiopia to 1980s Scotland and the last outpost of North American wilderness in the not-too-distant future. This is a history-making list in several ways--the most diverse in Booker history with four writers of colour and four women featured. You can find each of these excellent titles at OPL on the list below (you'll have to wait until 2021 to read Burnt Sugar, when it will be published in Canada). Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner on November 17th!