Arundhati Roy fails to make it to 2017 Man Booker short-list - Hindustan Times
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Arundhati Roy fails to make it to 2017 Man Booker short-list

Hindustan Times, London | By, London
Sep 13, 2017 06:37 PM IST

Pakistani-origin writer Mohsin Hamid is among the six authors short-listed for the 2017 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

Arundhati Roy, who won the 1997 Man Booker Prize for Fiction for The God of Small Things, has failed to make it to the short-list for the prize’s 2017 edition though her second novel, The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness, was on the long-list.

File photo of Indian author Arundhati Roy presenting her book The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness at the Parco della Musica Auditorium in Rome, Italy, on June 12, 2017.(AP)
File photo of Indian author Arundhati Roy presenting her book The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness at the Parco della Musica Auditorium in Rome, Italy, on June 12, 2017.(AP)

Pakistan-origin British writer Mohsin Hamid was among the six short-listed for the 2017 prize for his book Exit West, a tale of migration, mutation and life in war zones, the organisers announced on Wednesday.

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Roy’s second novel, published this year, was on the 13-member long-list announced on June 27. Besides Hamid, others on the short-list that does not feature any Indian are Paul Auster, Emily Fridlund, Fiona Mozley, George Saunders and Ali Smith.

The winner will be declared in London on October 17.

The chosen books cover a wide range of subjects, from the struggle of a family trying to retain its self-sufficiency in rural England to Hamid’s love story of two refugees seeking to flee an unnamed city in the throes of civil war. 

Lola Young, the chair of the judges, said: “With six unique and intrepid books that collectively push against the borders of convention, this year’s shortlist both acknowledges established authors and introduces new voices to the literary stage. 

“Playful, sincere, unsettling, fierce: here is a group of novels grown from tradition but also radical and contemporary. The emotional, cultural, political and intellectual range of these books is remarkable, and the ways in which they challenge our thinking is a testament to the power of literature.”

Ali Smith made the short-list for the fourth time (she was previously short-listed for Hotel World in 2001, The Accidental in 2005 and How to Be Both in 2014). This year also sees the repeat short-listing of Hamid, who made the list in 2007 with The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

First awarded in 1969, the winner of the Man Booker will receive £50,000, while the short-listed writers each receive £2,500 and a specially bound edition of their book. 

The short-list of six novels:

Title Author (nationality) Imprint:

4321 Paul Auster (US) Faber & Faber

History Of Wolves  Emily Fridlund (US) Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Exit West  Mohsin Hamid (UK-Pakistan)  Hamish Hamilton

Elmet Fiona Mozley (UK) JM Originals

Lincoln In The Bardo  George Saunders (US) Bloomsbury Publishing                    

Autumn Ali Smith (UK) Hamish Hamilton  

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Prasun Sonwalkar was Editor (UK & Europe), Hindustan Times. During more than three decades, he held senior positions on the Desk, besides reporting from India’s north-east and other states, including a decade covering politics from New Delhi. He has been reporting from UK and Europe since 1999.

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