The detail is a first in the globally-recognised literary competition’s 55-year history.
The prestigious award honours fiction in English written by authors of any nationality published in the UK and Ireland, and is chosen by a panel of judges from the literary world.
Authors from five countries appear on this year’s list, including the first Dutch writer to be shortlisted, the first Australian in 10 years, as well as British, Canadian and American authors. Two of the authors have been shortlisted previously.
With a diversity of content, the list features stories which transport readers around the world and beyond Earth’s atmosphere: from the battlefields of the First World War to a spiritual retreat in rural Australia; from America’s Deep South in the 19th century to a remote Dutch house in the 1960s; from the International Space Station to a cave network beneath the French countryside.
According to the judges among other things, the shortlisted books explore the gravitational pull of home and family; the contested nature of truth and history; and the extent to which we reveal our real selves to others.
The books shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024 are:
James by Percival Everett
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
Held by Anne Michaels
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
The six books were selected by the 2024 judging panel from 156 works published between 1 October 2023 and 30 September 2024, and submitted to the prize by publishers. The panel is chaired by artist and author Edmund de Waal, who is joined by award-winning novelist Sara Collins; Fiction Editor of the Guardian, Justine Jordan; world-renowned writer and professor Yiyun Li; and musician, composer and producer Nitin Sawhney.
The shortlist was narrowed down from a longlist for this year’s award. The longlisted books are:
Colin Barrett (Irish) Wild Houses (Jonathan Cape)
Rita Bullwinkel (American) Headshot (Daunt Originals)
Percival Everett (American) James (Mantle)
Samantha Harvey (British) Orbital (Jonathan Cape)
Rachel Kushner (American) Creation Lake (Jonathan Cape)
Hisham Matar (British/Libyan) My Friends (Viking)
Claire Messud (Canadian/American) This Strange Eventful History (Fleet)
Anne Michaels (Canadian) Held (Bloomsbury Publishing)
Tommy Orange (American) Wandering Stars (Harvill Secker)
Sarah Perry (British) Enlightenment (Jonathan Cape)
Richard Powers (American) Playground (Hutchinson Heinemann)
Yael van der Wouden (Dutch)The Safekeep (Viking)
Charlotte Wood (Australian) Stone Yard Devotional (Sceptre)
The winner of the prize will be announced on 12 November and will receive £50,000, while each of the shortlisted writers receives £2,500.
