Six US Authors Reach Booker Prize Semifinals
- Six American writers have been nominated among the 13 semifinalists for the prestigious Booker Prize for fiction.
- Among these authors, Tommy Orange has made history as the first Native American to reach this stage.
- The Booker Prize, valued at £50,000, recognizes outstanding fiction and elevates the prominence of its authors.
— The Booker Prize for fiction has announced its 13 semifinalists, featuring six American authors, including notable names such as Rachel Kushner, Percival Everett, and Tommy Orange. Orange, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, makes history as the first Native American semifinalist with his novel “Wandering Stars,” which spans centuries. Everett’s nomination for “James” offers a fresh perspective on Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn,” while Kushner returns to the competition with her spy narrative “Creation Lake.” Other American contenders include Rita Bullwinkel with “Headshot” and Canadian-American Claire Messud for “This Strange Eventful History.” The longlist also features international writers from the U.K., Canada, Ireland, Australia, and the Netherlands. Among them are Canadian poet Anne Michaels with “Held,” British-Libyan author Hisham Matar’s “My Friends,” and Dutch writer Yael van der Wouden, marking her as the first-ever Dutch Booker semifinalist with “The Safekeep.” Edmund de Waal, chair of the five-member judging panel, highlighted the thematic depth of the nominated works, which explore concepts of belonging, displacement, and return across diverse settings, from an Irish town to outer space. The Booker Prize, established in 1969, is renowned for significantly impacting authors' careers and is open to novels published in the U.K. and Ireland. The finalists will be revealed on September 16, with the winner announced on November 12 in London. Last year’s accolade went to Irish author Paul Lynch for his dystopian novel “Prophet Song.”