Jewish author makes the 2023 Booker Prize longlist

Sarah Bernstein's book about the rise of xenophobia is among 13 publications in line for a Booker Prize

Author Sarah Bernstein has made this year’s Booker Prize longlist with her acclaimed novel Study For Obedience, about the rise of xenophobia.

Bernstein’s grandparents came from Eastern Europe and she has said in the past that she is very preoccupied with questions of rooting and rootlessness and that trying to understand where she comes from is complicated.

The prestigious prize recognises pieces of fiction from around the world. The selection was made from 163 books published between 1 October 2022 and 30 September 2023 which were submitted to the Booker Prize Foundation by publishers.

Esi Edugyan, chair of the 2023 judges, said this year’s list “is defined by its freshness, by the irreverence of new voices, by the iconoclasm of established ones. “All 13 novels cast new light on what it means to exist in our time, and they do so in original and thrilling ways,” she said.

“Their range is vast, both in subject and form: they shocked us, made us laugh, filled us with anguish, but above all they stayed with us. This is a list to excite, challenge, delight, a list to bring wonder. The novels are small revolutions, each seeking to energise and awaken the language. Together – whether historical or contemporary – they offer startling portraits of the current.”

Nigerian, Irish, Canadian, American, British and Malaysian authors have all been recognised this year. Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow’s debut novel All The Little Bird-Hearts, which uses the author’s extensive personal experience with autism, is among those on the list.

Irish author Sebastian Barry joins a group of 10 other writers who have been nominated for the Booker Prize at least five times. His novel Old God’s Time, about a murder investigation which leads a retired policeman to confront his past, is on the list this year. Other Irish authors to feature include Elaine Feeney for How To Build A Boat, Paul Lynch for Prophet Song, and Paul Murray with The Bee Sting. Murray was longlisted in 2010 for novel Skippy Dies.

Including the authors who have been listed this year, 37 Irish writers have been recognised by the Booker Prize, making Ireland the country that has produced the most nominees, relative to population size, in the prize’s history.

Ayobami Adeybayo has become the fifth Nigerian novelist to be nominated for her work A Spell Of Good Things which is an examination of class and desire in modern day Nigeria.

Tan Twan Eng, who was nominated for The Gift Of Rain in 2007 and The Garden Of Evening Mists in 2012, features on the list for The House Of Doors, which draws on the life of writer Somerset Maugham.

Two stories exploring grief have also been longlisted – Chetna Maroo’s debut novel Western Lane and Sian Hughes’s book Pearl, which evokes themes explored in the medieval poem of the same name.

Other authors to have been recognised include Jonathan Escoffery, who has been nominated for his debut novel If I Survive You, Paul Harding for This Other Eden and Martin MacInnes for his novel In Ascension.

The Booker Prize Foundation is a registered charity which has been rewarding outstanding fiction for over five decades.

The winner of the International Booker Prize 2023 was Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov.