Books

The longlist has been announced! It features work from four continents, four Irish writers, four debut novelists – and ten authors who are recognised by the Booker Prize for the first time

Novelist Esi Edugyan, twice-shortlisted for the Booker Prize, is the chair of the 2023 judging panel and is joined by actor, writer and director Adjoa Andoh; poet, lecturer, editor and critic Mary Jean Chan; Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and Shakespeare specialist James Shapiro; and actor and writer Robert Webb.

The judges are looking for the best work of long-form fiction, selected from entries published in the UK and Ireland between October 1 2022 and September 30 2023.

The longlist of 13 books – the ‘Booker Dozen’ – was announced on August 1, 2023 with the shortlist of six books to follow on September 21. The winner of the £50,000 prize will be announced at an event at Old Billingsgate, London, on November 26, 2023.

Longlist

• The House of Doors
• The Bee Sting
• Western Lane
• In Ascension
• Prophet Song
• All the Little Bird-Hearts
• Pearl
• This Other Eden
• How to Build a Boat
• If I Survive You
• Study for Obedience
• Old God's Time
• A Spell of Good Things

The 13 longlisted books explore universal and topical themes: from deeply moving personal dramas to tragi-comic family sagas; from the effects of climate change to the oppression of minorities; from scientific breakthroughs to competitive sport. The list includes:

• 10 writers longlisted for the first time, including four debut novelists
• Three writers with seven previous nominations between them
• Writers from seven countries across four continents
• Four Irish writers, making up a third of the longlist for the first time
• A novel featuring a neurodiverse protagonist, written from personal experience
• ‘All 13 novels cast new light on what it means to exist in our time, and they do so in original and thrilling ways,’ according to Esi Edugyan, Chair of the judges