Booker Prize 2020 shortlist
15 September 2020
The shortlist for the 2020 Booker Prize was announced on Tuesday 15 September 2020. Huge
congratulations in particular to Glaswegian Douglas
Stuart for Shuggie Bain published
by Picador and to Maaza
Mengiste for The Shadow King published by
Canongate Books based in Edinburgh.
The Booker Prize for Fiction is open to writers of any
nationality, writing in English and published in the UK or
Ireland.
The 2020 shortlist is:
- Diane Cook (USA) - The New Wilderness (Oneworld
Publications)
- Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe) - This Mournable Body
(Faber & Faber)
- Avni Doshi (USA) - Burnt Sugar (Hamish Hamilton,
Penguin Random House)
- Maaza Mengiste (Ethiopia/USA) - The Shadow King
(Canongate Books)
- Brandon Taylor (USA) - Real Life (Originals, Daunt
Books Publishing)
- Douglas Stuart (Scotland/USA) - Shuggie Bain (Picador,
Pan Macmillan)
The 2020 winner will be announced on Tuesday 17 November in an
event broadcast from London's Roundhouse in collaboration with BBC
Arts. The ceremony has been re-imagined, transposing the
traditional dinner at the Guildhall to a globally accessible
ceremony without walls. In light of the pandemic, the newly
formatted event aims to creatively engage readers across the world
with the shortlisted books, authors and the overall winner. It will
be a multi-platform offering, including a one-off BBC Two programme
in the run-up, a Live Page on BBC Arts, coverage on BBC World News,
the live announcement of the winner on BBC Radio 4's Front Row and
the winner interview on BBC News at Ten.
The winner of the 2020 Booker Prize receives £50,000 and can
expect international recognition. The shortlisted authors each
receive £2,500 and a specially bound edition of their book.
For comments on the shortlist, see Sameer Rahim in The Guardian 15 September 2020 and
Rebecca Jones on the BBC website 15 September 2020.
For a round up of Scottish writers and publishers on the Booker
lists over the years, see our Booker Prize page.