Orhan Pamuk, Kenzaburō Ōe among others in longlist for Man Booker International Prize 2016

Nobel prize-winners Orhan Pamuk and Kenzaburō Ōe from Japan, along with the pseudonymous Italian author Elena Ferrante are all in the running for the Man Booker International Prize 2016, which awards the best in global fiction translated into English. The longlist has shortlisted 13 books from 155 contenders, and it consists of authors from 12 countries, writing in 9 different languages, reports The Guardian. [caption id=“attachment_2667262” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Orhan Pamuk. Image from Reuters.[/caption] While previously the Man Booker International prize was awarded every alternate year to an author for their entire body of work, this year onwards, the Man Booker Foundation had collaborated with the Independent Foreign Fiction prize, and will now be awarded annually for one book, with a prize money of £50,000, to be divided equally between the author and their translator. Apart from prominent contenders Pahmuk and Ferrante, The Four Books by Yan Lianke is one of the most controversial contenders on the list, for being banned in China and rejected by 20 publishers for its highly political content. The final shortlist of six books will be revealed on 14 April, with the author and translator each receiving £1,000. The winner will be announced on 16 May. The longlist was selected by a panel of five judges, chaired by Boyd Tonkin, who is a senior writer with The Independent. In the official website of The Man Booker Prize, Tonkin says, “The 13 books that the judges have chosen not only feature superb writing from Brazil to Indonesia, from Finland to South Korea, from Angola to Italy. Our selection highlights the sheer diversity of great fiction today. From intense episodes of passion to miniature historical epics; from eerie fables of family strife to character-driven chronicles of urban life, this list showcases fiction that crosses every border. It also pays tribute to the skill and dedication of the first-rate translators who convey it to English-language readers.” Here is the entire list of contending books: Death by Water by Kenzaburō Ōe (Japan), translated by Deborah Boliner Boem Mend the Living by Maylis de Kerangal (France), translated by Jessica Moore Man Tiger by Eka Kurniawan (Indonesia), translated by Labodalih Sembiring The Four Books by Yan Lianke (China), translated by Carlos Rojas The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante (Italy), translated by Ann Goldstein White Hunger by Aki Ollikainen (Finland), translated by Emily Jeremiah & Fleur Jeremiah A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk (Turkey), translated by Ekin Oklap A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler (Austria), translated by Charlotte Collins Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila (Democratic Republic of Congo/Austria), translated by Roland Glasser A Cup of Rage by Raduan Nassar (Brazil), translated by Stefan Tobler Ladivine by Marie NDiaye (France), translated by Jordan Stump The Vegetarian by Han Kang (South Korea), translated by Deborah Smith