LONDON -- A Zimbabwean writer who was arrested during anti-government protests is among six finalists announced Tuesday on a diverse list of contenders for the prestigious Booker Prize for fiction.
Tsitsi Dangarembga was nominated for the 50,000-pound (US$64,000) award for 鈥淭his Mournable Body,鈥� which links the breakdown of its central character and turmoil in post-colonial Zimbabwe.
Dangarembga, one of Zimbabwe's most garlanded authors, was arrested in July and spent a night in detention for standing by a road in the capital of Harare and holding up a placard that said 鈥淲e Want Better. Reform Our Institutions.鈥�
The Booker list this year is dominated by books from American or U.S.-based authors, including 鈥淭he Shadow King鈥� by Ethiopia-born Maaza Mengiste, Diane Cook's dystopian tale 鈥淭he New Wilderness,鈥� Avni Doshi's India-set 鈥淏urnt Sugar鈥� and Brandon Taylor's campus novel 鈥淩eal Life.鈥�
Only one British writer made the cut for the U.K.'s leading book prize: Douglas Stuart for 鈥淪huggie Bain,鈥� the story of a boy in 1980s Glasgow. Stuart, too, is U.S.-based - he has lived in New York for years.
The winner will be revealed Nov. 17, though the traditional black-tie dinner ceremony at London's medieval Guildhall has been scrapped because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Founded in 1969, the prize is open to English-language authors from around the world, but until 2014 only British, Irish and Commonwealth writers were eligible.
That year's change sparked fears among some Britons that it would become a U.S-dominated prize. That hasn't happened, yet. There have been two American winners, Paul Beatty's 鈥淭he Sellout鈥� in 2016 and George Saunders' 鈥淟incoln in the Bardo鈥� in 2017.
The prize's literary director, Gaby Wood, said she was not concerned by the lack of British novelists on the shortlist. She said readers 鈥渄on't look at passports.鈥�
The prize, subject to intense speculation and a flurry of betting, usually brings the victor a huge boost in sales and profile.
This year's shortlist includes four debut novelists - Doshi, Cook, Stuart and Taylor - and omits high-profile books including Anne Tyler's 鈥淩edhead by the Side of the Road鈥� and 鈥淭he Mirror and the Light,鈥� the conclusion of Hilary Mantel's acclaimed Tudor trilogy. Mantel won the Booker for both its predecessors, 鈥淲olf Hall鈥� and 鈥淏ring up the Bodies鈥� and had been widely tipped for a third victory.
Thriller writer Lee Child, one of the judges, said Mantel's book was 鈥渁n absolutely wonderful novel.鈥�
鈥淏ut as good as it was, there were some books that were better,鈥� he said.
