The Polish Book Institute

Księgi Jakubowe (“The Books of Jacob”) by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft, has been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. The Jury presented the six shortlisted titles yesterday.

Olga Tokarczuk was awarded the prestigious 2018 International Booker Prize. The jury honoured then her book Bieguni (“Flights”), translated by Jennifer Croft. The translation was supported by the Book Institute as part of the ©Poland Translation Programme. A year later, her novel Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych (“Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead”), translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, was nominated for the Booker (the book eventually reached the final).

Alongside The Books of Jacob, this year's shortlist includes the following:

• Bora Chung, Cursed Bunny, translated by Anton Hur
• Jon Fosse, A New Name: Septology VI-VII, translated by Damion Searls
• Mieko Kawakami, Heaven, translated by Samuel Bett, David Boyd
• Claudia Piñeiro, Elena Knows, translated by Frances Riddle
• Geetanjali Shree, Tomb of Sand, translated by Daisy Rockwell

The winners will be announced on 26 May.

The International Booker Prize is awarded annually to the best book translated into English. Since 2016, the award has been given for a single fiction book; previously, every two years, it was awarded to writers for their lifetime body of work. The prize is shared equally between the author and the translator.