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20 July 2018

The judges for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize are announced today, 20 July 2018, as submissions for the 2019 prize open.

Chaired by Bettany Hughes, award-winning historian, author and broadcaster, the panel consists of: writer, translator and president of English PEN Maureen Freely; philosopher Professor Angie Hobbs FRSA; novelist and satirist Elnathan John; and essayist and novelist Pankaj Mishra.

2019 will be the fourth year of the evolved Man Booker International Prize, which was originally launched in 2005. The 2019 judging panel will be looking for the best work of translated fiction, selected from entries published in the UK and Ireland between 1 May 2018 and 30 April 2019.

The 2018 prize was won by the Polish author, Olga Tokarczuk, and her translator, Jennifer Croft, for Flights, published by Fitzcarraldo Editions. The £50,000 prize was split equally between author and translator. Flights sold over 10,000 copies in the week following the winner announcement.

In her acceptance speech Olga Tokarczuk thanked Jennifer Croft for her efforts in getting the English edition of the book published, and commented on the translator’s talent: “She conveyed my work in such a fragile, beautiful way that it is really [as though we were] witness to a miracle; that a story written in one language can be so read in another language.”

Bettany Hughes, Chair of the judges for 2019, comments: “As a species we are motivated not by systems but by stories. I see this in play from the very beginning of human society. Today it matters what stories we imagine, share, listen to. I’m truly delighted to have the chance to celebrate the most inspirational work from across the world – it will be an honour to read each and every one of the books submitted.”

Fiammetta Rocco, Administrator of the Man Booker International Prize, adds: “The judges of the 2019 Man Booker International Prize are readers, writers, broadcasters, academics and translators. They are united by their global outlook, their curiosity about what fiction can accomplish and their passion for literature in translation.” The “Man Booker Dozen” of 12 or 13 books will be announced in March 2019 and the shortlist of six books in April 2019. The winner will be announced in May 2019.

The prize is sponsored by Man Group, an active investment management firm that also sponsors the Man Booker Prize for Fiction. Both prizes strive to recognise and reward the finest in contemporary literature.

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