A translator from Ukrainian joined International Booker Prize’s panel of judges

The International Booker Prize has announced the names of this year’s judges. This was reported on the official website of the prize.

The panel of judges is chaired by the French-Moroccan novelist, Leïla Slimani.

The panel also includes Uilleam Blacker, a professor of Slavic studies and one of Britain’s leading literary translators from Ukrainian; Tan Twan Eng, a Malaysian novelist who was shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Parul Sehgal, staff writer and critic at the New Yorker; and Frederick Studemann, Literary Editor of the Financial Times.

“Led by Leïla Slimani, the five judges of the International Booker Prize 2023 bring a wealth of talent and global experience as writers, critics, translators – and most of all as readers. Their recommendations should leap to the top of your must-read list,” noted Fiammetta Rocco, Administrator of the International Booker Prize.

Leïla Slimani, Chair of the International Booker Prize 2023 judges, commented that “in literature there are no borders, no illegals, no outcasts. Fiction is my home and I am more than happy to be able to live there for several months, surrounded by friends and colleagues, to celebrate our passion for words and stories. It is a great honour and responsibility to present this prestigious award to a novelist and to his or her translator whose talents have enabled them to be read by English-speaking readers.”

The long list of 12 or 13 books is expected to be ready in March 2023 and the short list of six books in April 2023. The winner will be announced in May 2023.

The Man Booker Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the English-speaking world and the world in general. The first award was held in 1969. The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is open to writers of any nationality, written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland.

The winners’ prize purse is £50,000; £25,000 for the author and £25,000 for the translator (or divided equally between multiple translators). 

To recap, in 2021 the winner of the Booker Prize was the writer from South Africa Damon Galgut, and in 2022 it was Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka with the book The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida.

Read also: Finalists of 2022 International Booker Prize.

Featured image: thebookerprizes.com