The 2022 Booker Prize longlist, thirteen titles in total, was announced today. Given the changes to the rules in 2013 (for the 2014 award onwards), allowing entry for works written in English, not just works from the Commonwealth and the Republic of Ireland, I haven’t been following it as closely, nor have I been reading many of the titles. However, this blog was established to track the award so here are the thirteen books that made the 2022 longlist (I have presented them in the same order as the Booker Prize website – which is not alphabetical by title nor author nor publisher – if you can figure out the order they’ve presented them please add a comment below, it better not be cover colour!!!)
‘The Colony’ by Audrey Magee
‘After Sappho’ by Selby Wynn Schwartz
‘Glory’ by NoViolet Bulawayo
‘Small Things Like These’ by Claire Keegan
‘Nightcrawling’ by Leila Mottley
‘Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies’ by Maddie Mortimer
‘Case Study’ by Graeme Macrae Burnet
‘Treacle Walker’ by Alan Garner
‘The Trees’ by Percival Everett
‘Trust’ by Hernan Diaz
‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’ by Shehan Karunatilaka
‘Oh William!’ by Elizabeth Strout
‘Booth’ by Karen Joy Fowler
It is great to see independent publishers (Eg. Influx and Galley Beggar) on the list, let’s hope it doesn’t cost them a fortune in publicity and distribution to make the shortlist., which will be announced on 6 September. The winner will be announced on 17 October 2022.
Happy reading.
Messenger's Booker (and more) 
I haven’t been following it as closely in recent years for the same reason but also because I felt some of the judges were following an agenda instead of picking the best book. This year’s list hasn’t got me very excited
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Yes, that ridiculous decision to give a joint award (one of the winners book being published only weeks before the award & not being remembered as one of her better works) was a classic example of recent times. I must also admit there’s not a feeling of urgency to read the thirteen!!!
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Well, I waded through the world’s least user-friendly website to find out where these authors are from, and apart from one from Sri Lanka, all the rest are from (mostly) the US, the US, the US and the UK & Ireland. This is ludicrous for what is supposed to be an international prize and an insult to writers in the rest of the English speaking world. Nothing from anywhere in Africa, Canada, NZ, Oz, India… This prize is completely irrelevant to those of us who take an interest in international fiction.
Ok, rant over. I admit it, my first reaction was a big yawn…
The worst thing is, that having shown what vanilla taste they have, the judges have put me off the Sri Lankan author too.
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I miss the good old days when I’d rush to see what Southern Hemisphere authors had made the list. Since the rule change it has basically become an award for US writers. Yawn.
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