Folio Prize 2017, Shortlist

Hello Gentle Reader

Three years ago, the Folio Prize was conceived and born to rival the Man Booker Prize—a literary dispute of sorts. In two-thousand and eleven the Man Booker Prize created controversy, when its judges decided to emphasize readability, at (what some perceived) the expense of literary merit. The Folio Prize also did something to rival the Man Booker Prize, by stating it was inclusive to all English language novels, and not limited to books published in the United Kingdom or Commonwealth. The Man Booker Prize would meet this challenge in two-thousand and fourteen by widening its scope to include the same mission, and opened its doors to books published beyond the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. This broadening perspective could be witnessed in two-thousand and sixteen when Paul Beatty (an American writer) won the award with his novel “The Sellout.” In its first two years, the Folio Prize has awarded the American short-story writer George Saunders and the Indian-American writer Akhil Sharma; in two-thousand and fourteen and fifteen respectively. In two-thousand and sixteen, however, the Folio Prize was not awarded as its organizers were on the hunt for a new sponsor; now the prize is back and has up the ante, by including non-fiction work on its shortlist. It will be interesting to see if the Man Booker Prize will retaliate, against its obvious rival.

With the inclusion of this year’s non-fiction work, the shortlist is strictly split between fiction and non-fiction. The following is this year’s shortlist for the Folio Prize.

China Miéville – “This Census-Taker,”

Laura Cummings – “The Vanishing Man: In Pursuit of Velázquez,”

Hisham Matar – “The Return,”

CE Morgan – “The Sport of Kings,”

Madeline Thien – “Do We Say Nothing,”

Francis Spufford – “Golden Hill,”

Maggie Nelson – “The Argonauts,”

Robin Yassin-Kassab and Leila Al-Shami – “Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War,”

There it is Gentle Reader, the eight finalists for this year’s Folio Prize. It will be interesting to see if the Man Booker Prize will begin to change how it conducts business, in order to further compete with its literary rival. Though the two awards, seek to complete the same objective, by different measures and methods; they do bring to mind an often unique literary pissing match, which brings unique attention to both the writers and books listed. It is also great fun to observe how the too attempt to remain relevant over each other—the Man Booker, however, does have age; while the Folio still remains in its infancy, with much support behind it from David Mitchell to Margaret Atwood.

Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader

Take Care

And As Always

Stay Well Read

           

M. Mary