Man Booker Prize Longlist: Our Predictions

Tomorrow at noon BST, the books on the longlist for the Man Booker Prize will be announced. The Man Booker Prize launched in 1969 with the goal of trying to promote and celebrate the best novel of the year written in English and published in the U.K. The winner gets £50,000 and a nice bump in sales worldwide. Last year’s winner was Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Tomorrow, they announce the longlist. The shortlist will be announced on Tuesday 15 September 2015 and the winner will be announced on Tuesday 13 October 2015. Trying to predict which books make it onto the list is like trying to predict the weather but we’re going to try. According to the rules, the eligibility criteria are as follows:

Any novel originally written in English and published in the UK in the year of the prize, regardless of the nationality of their author. The novel must be an original work in English (not a translation) and must not be self-published.

Here are a few my predictions (in no particular order) for books that may make it on to the list. Full disclosure: my predictions are based largely on the buzz that some of these books have gotten as many have yet to be published and I have not read most of them.

1. A God in Ruins: A Novel by Kate Atkinson. I think this one has the worst odds of making this list but you never know.
2. The Buried Giantby Ishiguro. People seem to either love or hate this book. Hmm, maybe a perfect option for our Love it or Hate it post. Anyway, the people who love it, REALLY love it.
3. Nora Websterby Colm Tóibín. I think he is a fabulous and talented author and I’m rooting for him to make the list.
4. Our Souls at Nightby Kent Haruf. Now that the prize is open to American authors, maybe he will make the list.
5. A Little Lifeby Hanya Yanagihara: This book seems to be a top contender in book circles and is getting a lot of buzz.
6. Purity: A Novelby Jonathan Franzen: This will be his first book out in 5 years and he books have never been nominated despite usually receiving a lot of critical acclaim.
7. The Book of Strange New Thingsby Faber.
8. The Green Road by Anne Enright
9. The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall
10. Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie. Mainly because I really want to read this one although I’m feeling slightly miffed that I didn’t get a galley (yet).

We want to hear from you! Which books do you think will make it? Which books have you read that you think should make the list?

Check back with us tomorrow afternoon to see which books made it on the list and see how we fared in our predictions.