Novelist and bookshop worker on Booker Prize shortlist
View(s):
Fiona Mozley says she finds selling customers her own novel “strange and embarrassing”
A 29-year-old writer who works part-time at a bookshop in York has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for her debut novel.
Fiona Mozley, the second-youngest author to be up for the prestigious literary prize, wrote Elmet while commuting between London and York.
Emily Fridlund, another debut novelist, is also up for the £50,000 award.
The winning book will be announced on October 17.
Mozley, a PhD student at the University of York’s Centre for Medieval Studies, is one of three female writers on a shortlist evenly divided between the sexes.
The author told Woman’s Hour the issue of home ownership was on her mind while writing her novel, which takes its title from the old name for the West Riding in Yorkshire.
Veteran writer Paul Auster has been shortlisted at the age of 70 for 4 3 2 1.
Ali Smith, who has been shortlisted for the Booker three times, makes the cut again with Autumn, the first in a quartet of books named after the seasons.
Hamid, shortlisted in 2007 in The Reluctant Fundamentalist, is once more in contention thanks to Exit West. US writer Saunders, best known for his short stories and novellas, is shortlisted for Lincoln in the Bardo, his first full-length novel.
The shortlist is completed by History of Wolves, the first novel from US writer Fridlund.
Courtesy BBC
| 2017 Man Booker Prize shortlist | |
| Paul Auster, 4 3 2 1 In a nutshell: A young man growing up in New Jersey in the 1950s and 60s leads four parallel lives. Judges’ comment: “An ambitious, complex, epic narrative… that is essentially both human and humane.” Emily Fridlund, History In a nutshell: A 14-year-old girl living on a commune in the US Midwest befriends some new arrivals. Judges’ comment: “A novel of silver prose and disquieting power that asks very difficult questions.” Mohsin Hamid, Exit West In a nutshell: A boy and girl fall in love, move in together and consider leaving their unnamed country. Judges’ comment: “A subtle, compact piece of writing about a relationship, its blossoming and digressions.” Fiona Mozley, Elmet In a nutshell: A boy remembers his life in a house his father built with his bare hands in an isolated wood. Judges’ comment: “Timeless in its epic mixture of violence and love, it is also timely… with no punches pulled.” George Saunders, Lincoln In a nutshell: President Abraham Lincoln goes to a Georgetown cemetery to grieve following his young son’s death. Judges’ comment: “Daring and accomplished, this is a novel with a rare capriciousness of mind and heart.” Ali Smith, Autumn In a nutshell: A dying 101-year-old man is watched over by his closest and only friend. Judges’ comment: “An elegy for lost time, squandered beauty but also for the loss of connections.”
|