Culture Review: Banned Film, Lost Dutch Masterpiece, Books for Mental Health and More
2016 International Man Booker prize announced
The 2016 International Man Booker prize shortlist consists of six novels from Turkey, China, Italy, South Korea, Austria and Angola, narrowed down from an original 155 contenders. The winner will be announced in June.
Judges called Elena Ferrante’s The Story of a Lost Child “a veritable feast.” Despite her international fame, Ferrante has never been publicly identified. She interacts with her translator only through her publisher.
Yan Lianke’s The Four Books is set in a labour camp before and during the 1950s famine in China. The novel, which took Lianke 20 years to plan, was banned in China at the time of its publication.
Here’s the full shortlist:
A General Theory of Oblivion, Jose Eduardo Agualusa (Angola)
The Story of the Lost Child, Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein (Italy)
The Vegetarian, Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith (South Korea)
The Four Books, Yan Lianke, translated by Carlos Rojas (China)
A Strangeness in My Mind, Orhan Pamuk, translated by Ekin Oklap (Turkey)
A Whole Life, Robert Seethaler, translated by Charlotte Collins (Austria)