Article
Richard Flanagan lone Aussie on Booker longlist
Jason Steger, Literary Editor, The Age
Richard Flanagan is the sole Australian writer on the longlist for this year’s Man Booker Prize, the first time the prize has been open to writers of any nationality.
Flanagan was listed for his acclaimed novel about prisoners of war on the Burma railway, The Narrow Road to the Deep North.
Flanagan told Fairfax: ”I am delighted to make the longlist in the year the Booker became the great global prize and I fear I will be easy prey for free drinks for the rest of the week at the Hope & Anchor”.
There were four American novels among the 13 comprising the longlist, but the much fancied Donna Tartt was not among them for her Pulitzer Prize-winning The Goldfinch.
And perennial British favourite Ian McEwan was not included for his new novel, The Children Act.
• What The Man Booker Prizes says about Richard Flanagan
The Booker longlist in full:
Joshua Ferris (US) – To Rise Again at a Decent Hour
Richard Flanagan (Australia) – The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Karen Joy Fowler (US) – We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
Siri Hustvedt (US) – The Blazing World
Howard Jacobson (Britain) – J
Paul Kingsnorth (Britain) – The Wake
David Mitchell (Britain) – The Bone Clocks
Neel Mukherjee (Britain) – The Lives of Others
David Nicholls (Britain) – Us
Joseph O’Neill (Ireland) – The Dog
Richard Powers (US) – Orfeo
Ali Smith (Britain) – How to Be Both
Niall Williams (Ireland) – History of the Rain
• And a little more reading …
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-28420602
http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2014/07/man-booker-prize-2014
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/24/2014-man-booker-prize-richard-flanagan-stunned-to-make-longlist?CMP=soc_568