LONDON (AP) 鈥� Six American writers including Rachel Kushner, Percival Everett and Tommy Orange are among 13 semifinalists announced Tuesday for the prestigious for fiction.
Pulitzer Prize-winning Cheyenne and Arapaho author Orange is the first Native American Booker semifinalist for the 50,000 pound ($64,000) award with his centuries-spanning saga 鈥淲andering Stars.鈥�
Everett is nominated for 鈥淛ames,鈥� which reimagines Mark Twain鈥檚 鈥淗uckleberry Finn鈥� from the point of view of its main Black character, the enslaved man Jim.
Everett was a finalist for the 2022 Booker for 鈥淭he Trees.鈥� Kushner, who was a Booker finalist in 2018 for her bestseller 鈥淭he Mars Room,鈥� is a contender again with spy story 鈥淐reation Lake.鈥� Pulitzer-winner Richard Powers, a finalist in both 2018 and 2021, is on the longlist with 鈥淧layground,鈥� a story of money, power and climate change set on a Polynesian island.
The other U.S. contenders are Rita Bullwinkel for 鈥淗eadshot,鈥� and Canadian-American writer Claire Messud for 鈥淭his Strange Eventful History.鈥�
Writers from the U.K., Canada, Ireland, Australia and the Netherlands round out the list, which includes 鈥淗eld鈥� by Canadian poet and novelist Anne Michaels, 鈥淢y Friends鈥� by British-Libyan author Hisham Matar and 鈥淭he Safekeep鈥� by Yael van der Wouden, the first-ever Dutch Booker semifinalist.
Artist and writer Edmund de Waal, who is chairing the five-member judging panel, said the list included 鈥渂ooks that navigate what it means to belong, to be displaced and to return,鈥� with settings ranging from a small Irish town to a convent in Australia and from deep oceans to outer space.
Founded in 1969, the Booker Prize has a reputation for transforming writers鈥� careers and is open to novels from any country published in the U.K. and Ireland. Last year鈥檚 winner was Irish writer Paul Lynch for post-democratic dystopia 鈥淧rophet Song.鈥�
A list of six finalists will be announced on Sept. 16, and this year鈥檚 winner will be announced Nov. 12 at a ceremony in London.
Jill Lawless, The Associated Press
