The longlist for one of literature's most prestigious prizes, the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, has just been announced, and 2014 is a historic year. For the first time in the prize's history, the competition is open to American authors, increasing the global appeal. But while this may be a step forward, the longlist reveals two steps back.
This is not to suggest that the books longlisted do not deserve their place, as all have received widespread critical acclaim and tackle very different subject matter, from Paul Kingsnorth's The Wake, a crowd-funded book written in semi-invented old English, to Mukherjee's exploration of Indian politics in the 1960s, but it does reveal something long debated about issues of diversity in the publishing world. Is the solution to include more diverse nominees, perhaps expanding the longlist, or does it go further than that? Is it a case that publishers simply aren't taking a chance on works by diverse writers?
Joshua Ferris (US) – To Rise Again at a Decent Hour
Richard Flanagan (Australia) – The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Karen Joy Fowler (US) – We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
Siri Hustvedt (US) – The Blazing World
Howard Jacobson (Britain) – J
Paul Kingsnorth (Britain) – The Wake
David Mitchell (Britain) – The Bone Clocks
Neel Mukherjee (Britain) – The Lives of Others
David Nicholls (Britain) – Us
Joseph O'Neill (Ireland) – The Dog
Richard Powers (US) – Orfeo
Ali Smith (Britain) – How to Be Both
Niall Williams (Ireland) – History of the Rain