JAIPUR: Pakistan's Intizar Hussain is among the 10 finalists for the Man Booker International Prize for fiction.
American author Marilynne Robinson, China’s Yan Lianke, Israel’s Aharon Appelfeld are also among the finalists.
The award, an offshoot of Britain’s better-known Man Booker Prize, is awarded for a lifetime’s work. It is open to authors of all nationalities whose work is available in English.
Hussain has several novels translated from Urdu into English including Naya Ghar and Basti. He is also a regular columnist for Dawn.
Finalists announced on Thursday at the Jaipur Literary Festival in India include Lydia Davis of the United States, France’s Marie NDiaye and Indian writer U.R. Ananthamurthy. Josip Novakovich of Canada, Russia’s Vladimir Sorokin and Swiss writer Peter Stamm complete the list.
Previous winners of the $95,000 award include Canada’s Alice Munro, Nigeria’s Chinua Achebe and Philip Roth of the United States.
This year’s winner will be announced in London on May 22.
Around 150 authors were considered for the prize, Christopher Ricks, the chairman of the five-man judging panel, said.
The Man Booker International Prize is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language.—Agencies
