Ukrainian writer Andriy Kurkov has been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize for the second time, this time with the novel Samson and Hope. The list of works eligible for the award was published on March 11 on the prize’s official website.
Borys Draliuk, executive editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books, translated Kurkov’s book into English, titled The Silver Bone.
In the review, the jury noted Kurkov’s “sense of irony and absurdity” amidst the violence” that reigns on the streets due to the lack of government. Also, according to the jury, Kurkov’s novel creates an atmosphere that “ranges from nineteenth-century Russian literature to the immediate current war in Ukraine.” However, the book was published before Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The shortlist of six books will be announced on April 9, 2024. The winner will be announced at a ceremony on May 21, 2024, which will be broadcast live.
