Percival Everett’s novel James is on the shortlist for the Booker Prize 2024 announced on Monday, September 16, 2024.
The Booker Prize for Fiction, founded in 1969, is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom. Previous winners of African descent have included Marlon James, Nadine Gordimer, J. M. Coetzee, Ben Okri, Bernadine Evaristo, and Damon Galgut.
The jury for 2024 comprises Edmund de Waal (Chair), Yiyun Li, Nitin Sawhney, and Justine Jordan, as well as award-winning author, literary critic, screenwriter, and broadcaster Sara Collins. From the 156 books published between 1 October 2023 and 30 September 2024 and submitted, the jury announced a longlist on Tuesday, July 30. The shortlist was announced on Monday with the following writers of African descent still running;
- James, Percival Everett
The 2024 jury described the book as “A powerful, genre-defying, revisionist exploration of slavery, identity, and the pursuit of freedom that subverts all expectations and further establishes Percival Everett as a masterful storyteller.”
The winner will be announced at a ceremony in London, UK on November 12. All shortlisted authors will receive £2,500 and the winner will receive the £50,000 cash prize and expect international recognition and a significant uplift in global sales.
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