'What it means to be a human': Short-but-punchy books dominate International Booker Prize shortlist

Euronews

08-04-2025

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The International Booker Prize has announced the six books shortlisted for its annual celebration of the best new fiction works that have been translated into English.
Five novels and one short story collection are now in contention for the £50,000 (€58,000) prize. All six finalists will receive £5,000 (€5,800). All prizes are to be split equally between authors and their translators.
The International Booker Prize recognises translators alongside the original authors as equal recipients. As with the
longlist announcement
in February, all the shortlisted authors are first-time nominees with two of the translators having previous nominations. Of this year's 12 nominated authors and translators, nine are women.
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It's the first time in the Prize's history that books from a Danish, Italian or Japanese author has been shortlisted as Solvej Balle,
Vincenzo Latronico
, and Hiromi Kawakami are named for the top gong.
Also marking a first is Banu Mushtaq, the Indian author whose book "Heart Lamp" is the first work written in the South Indian Kannada language to be nominated.
This year's shortlist is unique in that it's made up entirely of books from independent publishers. They're also on the shorter side, with four books coming in at under 200 pages. Two of the books, "Perfection" and "Small Boat" are barely over 100 pages and the longest book "Under the Eye of the Big Bird" is a mere 278 pages long.
Max Porter, chair of the 2025 judges, said the shortlist was made up of 'mind-expanding books' that are a 'vehicle for pressing and surprising conversations about humanity'.
All six nominated shortlisted books
Yuki Sugiura
'Reading 154 books in six months made us feel like high-speed Question Machines hurtling through space,' Porter continued.
'Our selected six awakened an appetite in us to question the world around us: How am I seeing or being seen? How are we translating each other, all the time? How are we trapped in our bodies, in our circumstances, in time, and what are our options for freedom? Who has a voice? In discussing these books we have been considering again and again what it means to be a human being now.'
The announcement of the winner will take place on Tuesday 20 May at a ceremony at the Tate Modern in London, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.
Here are the six shortlisted books:
"On the Calculation of Volume I" by Solvej Balle, translated from Danish by Barbara J. Haveland
The first book in a planned septology by Solvej Balle, one of Denmark's most acclaimed contemporary authors. Tara Selter is stuck in a time loop of the 18th November and as she reaches a year of being in this state, she starts to wonder if there is any way out of her relentless purgatory.
The judges said: 'A life is contained inside the melancholy of an endlessly repeating wintry day. Reading this book is an act of meditation and contemplation.'
"Small Boat" by Vincent Delecroix, translated from French by Helen Stevenson
French author Delecroix wrote "Small Boat" in three weeks based on recordings from a real event in which 27 people died when their boat sank in the Channel in 2021. He creates a damning fictional portrait of the woman who refused to take action when their calls for aid were received.
The judges said: 'An unflinching use of literature to ask the most uncomfortable but urgent question of our time: to what extent are we all complicit?'
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"Under the Eye of the Big Bird" by Hiromi Kawakami, translated from Japanese by Asa Yoneda
Inspired by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown in 2011, Kawakami created this speculative fiction about the future of humanity. Told over the course of eons, we see humanity on the edge of extinction setting into small tribes and interbreeding with aliens.
The judges said: 'A beguiling, radical, mind- and heart-expanding journey into humanity's future. The visionary strangeness is utterly enchanting.'
"Perfection" by Vincenzo Latronico, translated from Italian by Sophie Hughes
One of the most damning indictments of the millennial dream yet. Latronico's taught sociological novel about a couple who are living their ideal life in Berlin underlines the vapidity and bland approach to aspiration and consumerism millennials have as they strive for the same appliances and aesthetics.
The judges said: 'A pitch-perfect, profound and agonisingly well-observed account of the existential malaise of millennial life.'
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"Heart Lamp" by Banu Mushtaq, translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi
The only short story collection of the shortlisted books. "Heart Lamp" was published in the Kannada language between 1990 and 2023 and brings Banu Mushtaq's career experiences as a journalist and lawyer to a broad variety of stories about community and family.
The judges said: 'Stories about encroaching modernity, as told through the lives of Muslim women in southern India. An invigorating reading experience.'
"A Leopard-Skin Hat" by Anne Serre, translated from French by Mark Hutchinson
Written following author Anne Serre's sister's suicide, "A Leopard-Skin Hat" is a memorial to her. Through just a few short scenes, Serre paints a beautiful portrait of strong-willed young woman and the demons she's faced.
The judges said: 'A masterful lesson in how we remember the lives of those bound up with our own. It holds the fragility of life in its hands with the utmost care.'
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