Writers from 4 continents up for International Booker Prize

Chinese writer Can Xue and Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiongo, both long-favoured contenders for the Nobel Prize for literature, are among nominees for the International Booker Prize for fiction.

Can Xues I Live in the Slums and Ngugis The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gikuyu and Mumbi are among 13 books on the long list for the 50,000 pound (USD 69,000) prize.

The list announced Tuesday features works from four continents, including The War of the Poor by Frances Eric Vuillard, In Memory of Memory by Russian writer Maria Stepanova, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Argentinas Mariana Enriquez and Minor Detail by Palestinian author Adania Shibli.

Writer Lucy Hughes-Hallett, who heads the judging panel, said a theme of many of the books was migration — the pain of it, but also the fruitful interconnectedness of the modern world. The six finalists are set to be revealed on April 22 and the winner on June 2. The International Booker Prize is awarded every year to a book of fiction in any language that is translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland. It is run alongside the Booker Prize for English-language fiction.

The prize money is split between the books author and its translator. Ngugi translated his own novel from his mother tongue, Kikuyu.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)