Only three non-English UK-based authors have ever won the Booker prize. And all three of them were published by London presses.
Teresa Wong’s ‘Dear Scarlet,’ Jeff Lemire’s ‘Essex County,’ and recently nominated for a 2020 Canadian literary prize, Seth’s ‘Clyde Fans.’
(Arsenal Pulp Press/Penguin Random House/Drawn&Quarterly)
Canada’s Scotiabank Giller Prize didn’t shortlist a graphic novel, but are we surprised? The slow but increasing acceptance of graphic novels suggests the glacial pace at which literary canons grow.
SIngapore Grip: the final book in JG Farrell’s Empire Trilogy.
ITV Pictures
What was a thoroughly English book has become a multilingual, ever-changing global text continually putting down roots in different cultures.
Winners: author Jokha Alharthi (left) and translator Marilyn Booth (right) at the 2019 Man Booker International awards ceremony in May 2019.
EPA/Andy Rain
Graphic novels have a long history and are becoming an ever-more popular way of bringing profound and complex stories to life.
In this 1999 photo, author Michael Ondaatje poses at Coach House Press in Toronto. In addition to receiving a coveted spot on the 2018 Man Booker longlist for ‘Warlight,’ Michael Ondaatje recently won the Golden Man Booker prize for his critically acclaimed novel ‘The English Patient.’
(CP PHOTO/Kevin Frayer)
The meanings of Ondaatje’s Golden Man Booker win is complicated and demonstrates the contradictions of literary value. Literary prizes permit us to imagine that literature is more than a commodity.
The ability to speak more than one language informs many writers of fiction, but analysis of Booker Prize shortlists suggests this is not so important any more.