Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black, her first novel in seven years, has been shortlisted for the £50,000 Man Booker Prize. The Victoria-based writer is the only Canadian who remains in contention after Michael Ondaatje’s longlisted novel Warlight went unrecognized.
Earlier this week, Washington Black, published in Canada by HarperCollins, was also longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.
The 2018 shortlist is:
• Milkman, Anna Burns
• Washington Black, Esi Edugyan
• Everything Under, Daisy Johnson
• The Mars Room, Rachel Kushner
• The Overstory, Richard Powers
• The Long Take, Robin Robertson
Each shortlisted author receives £2,500. The shortlist was chosen by a jury chaired by philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah. The jury members are crime writer Val McDermid, cultural critic Leo Robson, feminist writer and critic Jacqueline Rose, and Toronto-born artist and graphic novelist Leanne Shapton. The winner will be announced on Oct. 16 at a dinner in London.